Dental A Team Podcast (Kiera Dent)

Does your list of things you need to get done seem too looooooong? Kiera and Tiffanie are here today to provide tips for not letting your to-do list stress you out. The grand takeaway: Focus on the three items that’ll have the BIGGEST impact on your week, then time manage with what’s left over.

Other helpful things to consider: blocking out your schedule, finishing items to completion, and using your momentum.

To get started: Put all your to-do items in one place. Kiera and Tiff share the next steps from there in this episode.

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Reach out to Kiera & Tiff

Listen to episode 364, Block Schedule Around the Prime and Fluff

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Kiera talks listeners through the best methods to adopt when treatment planning and how to make it an easy opportunity to connect with patients. There’s even a game of life thrown in...Continue Reading...

Kiera talks about the numerous shifts on the horizon in dentistry, what your practice can do to embrace the changes, and how Dental A-Team can help.

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Transcript:

Kiera Dent (00:01)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and I am so excited to have you on the podcast today. I hope today is just an incredible day for you. And I hope you remember you are in the greatest industry possible. And today I'm really excited because I feel like there's some opportunities to discuss and challenges that I think offices are gonna be facing in the next five to 10 years. I wanted to pop on and just say like, hey, dentistry is changing fast. And my question is, are you and your practice gonna be ready to seize the opportunity or?

Honestly, are you going to be struggling and hanging out in the back? I think that there will be a lot of shifts. I think we've seen a lot of shifts in dentistry. And so really just popping on to help you look for different things for technology, patient experience, different things within the practice, and really be able to help you guys prepare and get your practice there. Do you guys know Dental A Team? We are here to serve. We are here to help you and your practice have the best experience. I truly do believe that running a dental practice that's profitable and successful does not need to be hard. It does not have to be crazy.

and it can actually be fun and we can get doctors and team members aligned to be able to work in tandem together. And so that's why we're here today. I'm super excited because honestly, staying ahead of these trends is going to help you have long-term practice success. I've really been watching in the offices that we consult, the ones that are adapting and early adapters to technology, I think are going to be in the forefront. And so really just looking at where you are in the life cycle of your practice, looking to see where you want to be in the next five to 10 years.

and not making decisions to sell or to go to a DSO or to stay in a legacy practice out of necessity, but actually out of choice. So number one, I think that AI is coming in. AI is coming in pretty popular. There's a lot of different things. So we're having it in diagnostics. So like Pearl and Overjet, they're able to help co-diagnose with you. There's 3D printing that's coming in. I know offices are using AI and creating bots. We have an office.

where they've created an actual 24 hour a day bot for their practice. And I really think right now is a time for you to be learning. So whether it's 3D printing within your practice, automating our patient communication, looking into AI like this practice where they have a bot, using chat GPT for other things, utilizing AI, think helping practices with case acceptance. We've talked with Pearl, I've had Pearl on the podcast before, but what's crazy cool about that is offices are utilizing it.

actually you're seeing like a 30 to 50 % increase in case acceptance just by using this AI assisted technology. And I prefer Pearl over Overjet. Honestly, I think that there's no wrong choice on it. But the reality is like, I think you've got to get these things in motion. You've got to start looking for them. Otherwise, I really am concerned for you as a practice that you will accidentally become outdated. So really making sure that you are, you're working through this, that you are adding these things in because I think

AI is going to rapidly take off. And if you're not prepared, I think you will be outdated. So that's opportunity number one. So I'd say get involved in some sort of AI, whatever it is, even if you just start dabbling in chat GPT every single day, whatever it is, but really starting to utilize that. Opportunity number two. Now these are the opportunities that I see in the next five to 10 years. I think they're hitting this now. But number two is going to be like looking at membership plans, fee-per-service.

looking at some of those things. Now I'm not here to say drop insurance plans. I've actually been, think a consultant who's been pretty adamant about hanging onto insurance plans for as long as you can, pending upon what you want to do for marketing. If you're an incredible marketer, rock on, you might not need it. But insurance is just going to be something where I feel over time, it's going to get a little bit funkier. I don't think you're going to see a huge increase in insurance funds. I could be totally off on this. I'm not stamping my like everything that I am, but I think like, let's pay attention to it and let's see.

costs are rising in dentistry, but insurance plans are not paying a lot. And so could we start to shift our patient base? Could we start to retain our patients and actually build this fee for service model in? Now you've got to be super careful and I'm going to put like huge asterisks and exclamation points and pieces around it because if you do not transition out of insurances correctly and have a plan and a process and a patient experience in place, you will get like, I've seen it be so bad for practices. So really I think like,

One, if you don't have an in-house membership plan, let's get that started. I'm very pro these. It allows you to have options in the future. It allows you to have different marketing strategies. I think a lot of people are just looking at benefits at a different way now. And I think it just helps you to not be as dependent upon insurance in the future. Then number two is assess your insurance plans. And let's see, are there maybe any insurance plans that we could drop that aren't really going to hurt your production? You really got to do this strategically. Otherwise it will burn you in the booty.

and I do not want you to be at that practice. I've had too many of those offices, so let's make sure you're not there. And then make sure that we're like really getting people sticky to our practice. I think this will be a really, really, really big change for people. And then also it's something where even as fee for service patients, if you can get them on membership plans, I can speak for myself. Being on a membership plan, I actually came in for my two cleanings as opposed to a fee for service patient who often will only come in one time.

So I think it's just another way for you to have more patient flow, more opportunities to diagnose by having that membership plan. I have a practice where they were, this is me as a patient, I was going to them and they had a membership program. The doctor left, branched off, opened up their own practice and they don't have a membership program. And I was like, well, sweet, maybe I'll just go to you once a year. This is as a consultant. I know I need to go in twice a year. I know I have amazing teeth, but I don't need to go twice a year. Like honestly, if I only go once a year, my teeth are probably fine.

but if they had put me on a membership plan, there are other opportunities. For example, you could offer me a night guard, you could do whitening on me, you could do fluoride treatments on me, but because they're not putting into place a membership plan, odds are I probably won't be going back. So look to see how can we actually get our patients to be retained in our practice, not dependent upon insurance. So when we start to trickle that down, we start to convert more and more of our patient base. And what I will say is a lot of practices have transitioned say,

30 % of their patient base over to a membership plan. They start practicing on this, they start getting used to it. So when they want to drop insurance plans, they have a solution that's been really ingrained into their practice. The team's really good. I'm obsessed with companies like Dental Menu. I think that they do a great job for membership programs. I think that they've got a great one built. BoomCloud Clear. So you can just take a look to see who you like the most for it. And then I'm really obsessed with Moola. Moola, I think is a great credit card processor for you.

that actually helps you with your membership programs in-house so you can actually save on your credit card fees. I'm really pro them. Any of these companies that I'm recommending today, be sure to tell them, Denali team, you heard it on the podcast because they actually have a referral pricing for you. So that's what I negotiate. We don't do hardly any affiliates within our company. I just negotiate the lowest fees for you. but really I think looking to see, I think it's an opportunity for you with insurance plans and the economy to start adding in a membership.

Opportunity number three for you is looking into, tell the dentistry I don't think like hot, hot, but I do think virtual consult and online payments. So how can we make things easier for people? So can we get a virtual consultation? Can we start to have, I know there's like, we've had other people on our podcast before where they do virtual, like your smile, what is it? Your virtual smile consult. And what you can do is you can actually do treatment planning. You can have new patients meet you.

You can have videos on your website where it's like, hey, I'm the doctor. They can actually ask questions to the doctor. I have seen a lot of this with bigger cases come into pretty strong effect. Also, if you're wanting to do say consultations where maybe we're doing bigger treatment plans or even like full mouth cosmetic, there's a lot of those that I think are out there to help virtually. I have a doctor and they do a lot of what's called hybrid. So all on X cases and there's a software they can literally use and show the patient their new smile sitting in the chair.

So I think whether you're having patients virtually meet you or if you're using that technology within the chair to help present your cases better, having online options, so online scheduling, online payments, those types of things I really think we need to get more into the virtual world. I think dentistry is a smidgey dated. So I would strongly recommend for you on this to see how can you actually add these pieces into your practice because I do think these are going to like enhance you and just be something patients are expecting. Right now patients are expecting online.

patient scheduling, they're looking for online payments. They're looking for, mean, think about it. If I want to have a consult, my husband and I, we've done IVF. I've talked about it a couple of times on the podcast. I did a virtual consultation with my IVF doctor in another state and we went and we went, now, if you know IVF, IVF's around a 20 to $25,000 process per cycle. And so thinking about that in comparison to dentistry, they literally did virtual consults with me so I could be out of state, I could fly in.

I didn't have to actually be there. And so looking to see, that's what modern medicine is doing. What things could we actually do in dentistry that might be able to help us out as well? So I really think looking for that, that's where I mentioned Moolah, they're great for online, your smile, your virtual, gosh, I'm like botching it. I think it's your smile virtual consult, virtual smile consult. Look it up, that one I'm not as strong on. But just see how can we incorporate some of these items within our practice.

And I would really say that when you do this, you're able to get those high case acceptance. You're able to have more patient acceptance. Think about it. We're paying bills online at night. We are also scheduling appointments. I am constantly on my phone in the middle of the day, at night, on the weekends, moving appointments around, looking to see. And I think if we're not offering that for our patients, we're actually gonna get left behind because patients might accidentally leave you to go to a practice that's actually more up to date. So definitely.

Let's get into how can we become more virtual online. I think it's a huge, huge, huge opportunity for practices. Like I said, I think those are the top three opportunities right now. So we've got AI, membership programs, and then getting more virtual. So virtual consults, virtual like having more available online options. And then I think two of the big challenges in the next five to 10 years, which I think we're seeing it, which I think tie into the opportunities are,

We know it's expensive to run a dental practice. And I think dentistry has had this like nice run for quite a few years, decades where they've been able to stay in a very profitable margin. Hence why DSOs have entered the playing field. And so I think with inflation, higher payroll, supply costs, I think that there's some things in there to pay attention. And number one is you've got to know your number. So I'm really pro overhead calculators, looking at it, having your team involved with you, making sure that all of you are on the same page.

Those are gonna be some really good ways for you guys to stay on top of it, not falling out behind the scenes and figuring it out. Then utilizing buying group things. So for example, Synergy is a great buying group. You buy from your own preferred vendor, but you just get a discount on your supplies. Why not do things like that? How can we actually look to see, can we hire hygienists in and then have a base plus commission? and I were on the podcast.

a couple of weeks ago talking about how we can incentivize hygienists and not have to have as high of payroll, but really looking to see what are the ways that we can do this, looking to see how we can increase our fees, doing a 5 % fee increase, negotiating with insurances or possibly dropping some of those lower paying ones. What are some of these pieces? And what I will say is When you watch your numbers and you analyze your overhead, I promise you, you will be more profitable. So right now we're like, gosh, it's so expensive, which I'm not here to say it's not.

But there's offices out there that are running at a 35% overhead. So that means there's 65% profit margin for them. So looking at that and knowing that there's practices that are able to do that, that means once we know it's possible, then we can look for how you can do it in your practice as well. Now I understand that there's different areas. California is expensive. Hawaii is expensive. Like I hear you, but that doesn't mean that it's impossible. And I think being a wise steward over your numbers is actually something that I really would implore you to do.

to make sure that as costs rise, you know what you're actually spending money on. So you can actually make better decisions. look to see, can we hire this person? Are we paying within the realm? What do we need to do? Could we add on other services within our practice? all on X cases, ortho cases, things like that. But I really think like it's a huge challenge that I think you've got to stay on top of. Otherwise, before you know it, you're gonna just be like inundated and not be able to hire team members because we weren't watching it. We didn't know our numbers. We didn't know what we needed to be producing.

We didn't build block schedules to make sure that our practice could actually run lean and efficiently. And then challenge two, which I think has been hitting hard, which we'll just kind of address, is like staffing shortages and team retention. But I will say that this is like an if. Like there's so many offices out there that I know have incredible cultures. And so what I really feel like needs to happen in this realm is you've got to be an office that in a place that people want to work for. I started noticing that the new currency is time.

Time is the new currency, I think, in where we're at right now. Time and compensation and being happy. But I don't think it's as high on compensation as people think it is. Yes, it's a piece, but I see team members that are getting paid less, but for great cultures are saying because they want this work-life balance. They want more time. They want to be able to be with their kids. They want to be able to feel appreciated with their boss. They want to feel like they're doing a great job. And that is more the currency of today. And so how can you build this culture where

We attract a bunch of people to our practice. We have team members that want to stay with us and that we actually know that, like, we're looking to see how can we maximize this. I am seeing a trend, I'm not saying this is how you have to be, but I am seeing a trend where there is a four-day work week of employees actually tends to lead to less burnout and less team turnover. I don't know what it is. My five-day practices tend to have a bit more of that, but the four-day, and again, they, so they're not,

just open four days or open five days, but they have these rotating shifts and rotating days where they're off. I have seen that that's helping. And so I really feel that when you can build this amazing culture, build it to be a place where you're excited about, add fun things in, watch your overhead, watch those costs. But I really think it's something that's possible. think back to why you started to practice. You wanted to change, you wanted to do things differently. You want to have a team where you were so excited. I know that's what I get excited about. love, I love having a team. love.

loving on them. I love giving them opportunities. I love seeing them flourish in their lives. I love being excited for the growth they're having and so really trying hard to build this incredible team culture to cut the team turnover, to keep it to where you're this like raved about practice where everybody wants to work for you. I think would really, really be an incredible thing for you to just take on. And I know we've heard about it, but I think like, look at your culture, look at the things. I had to do a deep dive of this last year.

Britt and I, sat there and we're like, all right, what is the team saying? What are the issues that we know we're seeing consistently? And what do we want to do to change to make this a better environment and a better space? And I feel that only teams in incredible culture, but there were things that we were struggling with. were things of that we needed to change. There were things that had shifted since I started the company. And I think you've got to stay on top of that. Otherwise, I think you can easily get outdated. So that's a quick wrap.

I think the biggest opportunities are definitely AI membership programs and then also getting virtual, like getting everything up to date and online. And then challenges of course are going to be higher costs and then staff shortages and team retention. But I honestly believe that those who adapt, those who innovate, those who listen to this and they don't just passively listen but actively implement are going to flourish. They say a lot of times the biggest millionaires and billionaires are born during times of hardship and harder times. And so I think

Instead of looking at this like, my gosh, the world is falling apart. Look at this. I'm like, this is the greatest time in dentistry. This is where you get to rise to the top. This is where adding customer service or doing unreasonable hospitality or being a different work culture will actually set you apart. Like you have a chance, like it's not all just set anymore. You have a chance to shuffle and ruffle and make your way to the top. And I honestly believe that you can future-proof your practice. You can get ahead of these trends. You can look ahead and

You can be the practice who is proactive and looked and saw where to get the worm and how to navigate your practice rather than being the one who wished that they would have innovated sooner. And so really just to call the action and truly if you want to future proof your practice, you want to get ahead of these, us. We're on Instagram, DentalATeam or email us, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com I'm happy to pop on a strategy session with you, give you a free practice assessment for your practice to look at maybe where the gaps are, maybe where your blind spots are, maybe we can help you out.

And honestly check out our newsletter. We have a newsletter that goes out so you can always subscribe go to our website TheDentalATeam.com We try to keep you guys on top of this of just insights and knowledge to where we can really help you and your practice thrive And so really this is truly what the Denali team does. This is who we are This is what we love to do and if you're ready to take on opportunities and overcome your challenges reach out Now's the time I do not believe that having a practice should be hard. I do not believe that these things are just

Let me talk about it. It's time to implement. time to take action. And it's time for you to be the elite practice that you were destined to be. And as always, thanks so much for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

Mark Rasmussen of Moolah is on the podcast with Kiera! Moolah is all about modernization of payment in dental practices. Mark and Kiera talk about Moolah and its full suite of payment tools, what modernized payments look like in dentistry, software/devices to use, honest processing fees, and more.

Bonus: Dental A-Team listeners get a pricing discount: www.moolah.cc/thedentalateam 

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Transcript:

Kiera Dent (00:00.622)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and I am super jazz. I have a new guest to the podcast, new to the Dental A Team family. I have been watching this company for the last several years. I've had my eyes on them. I recommended them several times, but I'm super excited because I want to help you guys modernize how you guys are taking payments in the dental world. I feel like dentistry is a little old school. So I'm super jazzed to have the CEO and founder of Moolah, Mark Rasmussen on today. Mark, how you doing over there in beautiful Mexico today?

Mark Rasmussen (00:00.76)

Thank you.

Mark Rasmussen (00:30.552)

I am doing fantastic here. Thank you for allowing us to be part of the podcast. Excited to join you. And as you mentioned, yes, in down here in sunny Mexico, a little family vacation, happy to take a little break and talk with your community.

Kiera Dent (00:35.598)

Thank you.

Kiera Dent (00:45.934)

Amazing. Well, I was like, that's pure dedication. I offered to have you rescheduled because I'm like, you're in Mexico, go with the family. But I also know sometimes work is kind of fun on vacation. It's like, you know, you guys sit at the pool, I'll go have some alone time. But hopefully.

Mark Rasmussen (00:50.072)

Haha.

Mark Rasmussen (00:59.608)

Listen, you're winning in life if you feel that your work is worthwhile. Taking a break from a little vacation, that's how you know you're winning. So yeah, glad to do it, excited to do it.

Kiera Dent (01:08.079)

 Awesome. Well, I do love Moolah a ton. So I just want, Mark, let's kind of give the listeners, you're new to the podcast. Like I said, I've watched you guys for years. So can you kind of walk the listeners through Moolah, Mark, how did you get into dental payment processing? Walk us through kind of like the history of you and Moolah.

Mark Rasmussen (01:24.888)

Yep.

Sure, awesome. Okay, so I have been around electronic payments, just non -dental for about 27, 28 years. My God, I'm dating myself, but yeah, about 28 years. And...

Kiera Dent (01:38.446)

Hey, it's fine. I'm sure you're probably like 29. You probably started this business when you were one. That's my assumption, right? Or like you got into it. Yeah, of course. You're fine. 30. Never looking younger than 30 over there. You're looking good.

Mark Rasmussen (01:43.064)

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Let's go with that. Yep. Exactly. I've actually, this is not gray. I actually make this gray. This is normally dark, but I just tried to distinguish myself and try and go gray.

Kiera Dent (01:57.07)

I thought you were trying to like match your like mullah swag, right? Like, you know, like beard and mullah, like same thing so that we look covered head to toe. You got the black glasses, you know, the white beard. It's not gray. It's just white. You're trying to go on brand. Yeah, you're welcome.

Mark Rasmussen (02:00.632)

yeah, there we go. Mm -hmm. I like it.

Mark Rasmussen (02:06.936)

I like it. I like it. Exactly. Exactly. So, so been around payments forever. About four years ago, we got invited into the dental community from our friends at Dental Success Network. And so we started going to their events. And, you know, they loved our model. Our model has always kind of been about simplicity. Even when we were non dental, we were all about like,

you know, no contracts, no monthly fees, we provide the hardware. And so that kind of was really resonating with the dentist. But the constant feedback that we were getting was like, hey, this is cool. But we really want technology, we really want all of our payment activity posting into the patient ledger. And so we set about to go build that out and took us a couple years and but you know, ended up with a phenomenal platform that allows us to really kind of serve up.

this full suite of payment tools for dental practice. That's in practice payments, of course, storing patient cards, being able to create and manage payment plans, be able to create and manage in -house membership or discount plans, sending out electronic requests via text or email to collect on a balance, allowing the practice to have a online payment submission, you know, so those patients can make payments after hours. So just this full suite of payment tools.

that are posting back into the PMS. And really we think serving up the full suite of tools that today's practice would need.

Kiera Dent (03:40.206)

for sure. And I think that that's brilliant because you actually are speaking the language. Me as a team member, that was always our big thing with the processors of great. I'm glad you got this great one, but they don't go into the PMS system. They're not easy for me. But I'm curious, Mark, and this is something where you can be honest. Dental A Team is like no filter. I tried really hard to just have a good time on the podcast. How dated did you feel dentistry was? Yeah, of course. Yeah. But I mean, you're totally. Yeah, of course. Do whatever you want. I mean, I'm here for it.

Mark Rasmussen (04:00.056)

Nice. Should I grab a tequila shot and serve Asus right now? Or like how much of a good time are we having here? I'll stick to water.

Kiera Dent (04:08.718)

Yeah, okay. But I'm curious when you came because you didn't experience dentistry before you came into it. How dated was dentistry as an industry from your perspective? Like, were you a little like blown away? Like, I kind of say like, we're horse and carriage sometimes and some like, the fact that we didn't have online payments blows my mind, right? Could you please call during eight and five to make your payment to pay me? Like, we're gonna make it hard for you. How dated did you feel like dentistry was when you guys entered the industry? No judgment. I just

Mark Rasmussen (04:16.024)

Mm -hmm.

Mark Rasmussen (04:30.424)

Right. Right.

Kiera Dent (04:37.454)

Because I think, like I said, it's horrible.

Mark Rasmussen (04:38.008)

No judgment. I won't call it will protect the innocent. I won't call it any names. But yes, when I got into the space, I was blown away because there are some, you know, big legacy providers from payments perspective that had all of these legacy relationships with all the PMS is and I kind of just felt like they've been resting on their laurels for a really long time. Like they have the relationship and then they kind of stopped innovating. And so, yeah, I was, you know,

Kiera Dent (04:41.142)

you

Kiera Dent (05:03.662)

Mm -hmm.

Mark Rasmussen (05:07.352)

surprised that there was a lot of room to make improvements. And so yeah, it's been a great time. And not only improvements on the technology, but even the methods of I'll just call it old school solution providers, payment providers out there. Most of them are old school. And what I mean by that is that, you know, everything from, you know, the signup process or learning about what the fees are going to be.

If you go, for example, go take a look and again, I'm not naming any big names, but go, we all know what they are. If you go to their website and you go to see like, all right, well, how much does merchant services cost from this company? None of them have pricing or rates on their website by design, right? They're all meant to submit a contact form and then wait to have a salesperson call you back. And then, you know, it's just, it feels, it always felt very like car sales, like no disrespect to anybody who sells cars.

Kiera Dent (05:52.014)

Peace.

Kiera Dent (05:58.318)

Right.

Mark Rasmussen (06:04.92)

but it felt very car salesman like of what that experience looked like. And so we were always a big believer of like, we wanted to make, you know, getting signed up for processing less sales like and more transactional like, and how do you do that? You wear your pricing on your sleeve. Like you can go to, you know, the Moolah website, you know exactly what our processing costs. There's no surprises. You don't need to speak with anybody to get pitched on what the services are.

Kiera Dent (06:17.998)

Mm -hmm.

Kiera Dent (06:28.878)

Thank you.

Mark Rasmussen (06:30.584)

And so again, I always liked that. I like more of a transactional experience than a sales experience in kind of, you know, all my aspects of life. So, you know, that element, we saw room to improvement. So, you know, easy to know what the pricing is. And then from a signup perspective, everything can be done online, right? You don't have to have this salesperson send you, you know, paper applications or PDF applications, and you don't need to fill those out and then submit them to the bank and then wait for a couple of days for underwriting.

Kiera Dent (06:34.99)

Thank you.

Kiera Dent (06:58.158)

Thank you.

Mark Rasmussen (06:59.768)

maybe have to provide financials or tax returns, like all that. So with us, we removed all those elements and it's just very easy to know what it costs, very easy to sign up within seconds. So again, just removing the barriers to entry on the actual signup process is a big lift in experience as well.

Kiera Dent (07:11.566)

Thank you.

Kiera Dent (07:18.862)

Totally agree. And I think I think that that's what's so fun is having these disruptors come into dentistry of this is what you guys could expect from other people but you're right like it is kind of dated and dentistry is such a Relationship industry. I mean I say lab people and reps are so lucky because dentists are so loyal to them So I really really do love that you guys are disrupting it and like you said it's making payments easier and so I was just curious if you can talk about like

Mark Rasmussen (07:39.028)

yeah.

Kiera Dent (07:45.134)

what does modernized payments look like? Like what should practices, like what's the standard that we should be living at right now? So offices can kind of almost checklist them of am I doing this in my practice? And if not, maybe I should consider a different processor.

Mark Rasmussen (07:59.064)

Yeah. So the first thing we touched on is I think you should look at a vendor who can provide you the immediate kind of instant on type of experience. I think the whole legacy of, you know, multi -day underwriting with the bank having to have a hard credit inquiry pull is unnecessary today. Although again, a lot of the legacy providers work that way. So an instant on, I think, you know, modern, you know, modern payments day means not having to lock yourself into any contracts. I'm a big believer in that. Like,

Kiera Dent (08:08.942)

Mm -hmm.

Mark Rasmussen (08:29.4)

Any vendor that you work with, I think for the most part should allow you to exist in kind of like a month to month environment, right? Because if you're doing your job as a vendor, you don't need to lock anybody else up, right? They're going to stay with you if you're doing your job right. So I'm a firm believer in no contracts. Another thing I'm going to recommend is stop locking yourself into having to buy the hardware or software, right? And most of the vendors will either charge exorbitant amounts for the hardware,

or they'll try and put you into a non -cancellable lease for the hardware or rentals. All that do away with, you know, shameless plug. Of course, we don't do that, but we're not the only ones. There's a few other great vendors out there where they'll give you the hardware or they'll provide it to you at a fair price. Don't overpay for hardware or lock yourselves in a contract. You know, from a tactical standpoint of like payments specifically,

Here's the thing is that I think a modern practice should have. Obviously, you know, in practice, all the latest and greatest. So what is that? That's of course, old school MagSwipe, that's EMB chip card capabilities. That's also Apple Pay, Google Pay, kind of the tap to pay. That's a great convenience for your patients. Wireless devices are a great add on for the practice, right? So they don't have to be stuck at the front desk. You know, you should have devices that can go anywhere in the practice, you know, operatory, consult rooms, et cetera.

Wireless devices are a big lift. Storing patient cards, I think is a great convenience as well. I talked to a lot of practices who really love that because it's interesting. You talk to the front desk, nobody really wants to talk about or like, nobody likes the transactional element of asking for money and having to collect money, right? So if you can take that element out of your experience with a patient at the front desk,

Kiera Dent (10:02.798)

So genius.

Mark Rasmussen (10:25.592)

and you're like, hey, would you want us to put that on the on the visa we have in file? Great. That's easy. You know, so storing patient cards, I think is a big one. You know, being able to offer, you know, especially when you're when you're building out treatment plans and those dollar amounts to get higher, being able to offer the patients, you know, multiple payment options, obviously credit card, but then even being able to take that credit card payment and break it out, you know, your kids braces. Great. Let's let's set that up so that we can easily just charge out $100 a month or whatever the case may be.

Kiera Dent (10:29.006)

Mm -hmm.

Mark Rasmussen (10:55.576)

So being able to have multiple payment options to offer the patient is phenomenal. Other things that I, yeah, please, yeah.

Kiera Dent (11:03.054)

I just want to plug in that one real quick on the payments because you guys have modernized it because a lot of people like well We did that but I remember my gosh I had so many credit cards that I had to remember to run as the office manager I had to like make sure it was the date then I finally got smart and I was like let's do it on the first and the 15th and not just like every day of the month but there's still offices that are trying to remember to run all these cards and for you guys just to set it up it's like a set it and forget it like of course if it declines so much easier we just go check on that but

Mark Rasmussen (11:21.24)

Right. Right.

Kiera Dent (11:31.982)

I think to just pin on there, your practice might be doing it, but this is automatically doing it through the software where your team doesn't have to try and remember it, saves so much time from a team member having to do it.

Mark Rasmussen (11:41.944)

100%, 100%. And so many, I talked to a lot of offices that before they connected with us, many of them were like self -admitted and they're like, hey, they're like, I'm not proud to share this, but I'd be like, so how are you guys managing your reoccurring payments? So like, we have card numbers just written down in Notepad and I just make myself a reminder and outlook to go ahead and pull those out. I'm like, okay, you didn't tell me that, okay. But that's kind of the reality. So, you know.

being storing car data in binders. Yeah, it's exactly much safer. But having those card numbers available to you and where they're delivering not written down anywhere. So where they can be compromised is you know what they refer to as PCI compliant best practices. So being able to do that, not have your practice, you know, exposed to the you know, the dangers of having card information, you know,

Kiera Dent (12:12.27)

They're binders. Binders, Mark.

Mark Rasmussen (12:39.224)

exposed and compromised is huge. And of course, any reputable, you know, vendor that you're dealing with, that's going to lie to store patient cards, they're going to have it where it's tokenized. None of the tokenized card data of course, is ever going to be touching any of the practices servers. So the practices, what they refer to as is out of scope, you know, they're not actually dealing with and holding any card numbers. So that's, that's a huge element as well. what else? you know, I've seen get popular over the last couple of years.

memberships, in -house memberships and in -house discount plans are gaining a lot of traction. And I get it, right? It's great for the patient, it's great for the practice, gets the patient in the chair more, the practice kind of gets some reoccurring revenue going, it's a win -win. And there's a lot of great vendors out there in the space that just focus on that. But again, that's a feature set that we built into Moolah.

that allow you to kind of create and manage your own in -house discount plan. So having that, I think is a big part of today's modern practices. Sending electronic requests, right? Collecting on balances. The old school way of sending paper statements is dead, right? And the evolution of that went like, okay, it was paper statements and then everybody realized that nobody is going through snail mail anymore. And then it went to, okay, cool, let's be able to send electronic email requests.

which was an uptick in lift in response rates. And then, you know, beyond that, you know, text requests kind of like even went even further. I mean, the response rate of just going from email requests to text requests is significant. So, but, you know, giving the practice ability to collect on these balances and send those out electronically, automatic reminders, drip campaigns and all of that.

and allowing the patient to kind of like, you know, make that payment when it's convenient for them, you know, if it's at their home, on their couch, on their phone late at night, doing a quick Apple Pay transaction. That's what it's all about, you know, is making, you know, easy for your patients to interact and handle, you know, their billing issues with you is the ultimate. The other thing I'll touch on is, you know, online payment, right?

Kiera Dent (14:49.294)

Yeah.

Mark Rasmussen (14:54.36)

So allowing that patient be able to go to your site and click a button, say, hey, make an after hours payment and be able to make that payment after hours. That's another big, you know, we think kind of best practices to do for today's modern practice. And then really the cherry on top of all these things is that these things in itself are great, but really to really elevate this is all this payment tech we talked about is then having an automatically post into the PMS real time is where the magic really happens. And so.

I highly recommend kind of all those touch points as well as having it also integrate directly back in your PMS. That's where the magic really kind of happens, you know?

Kiera Dent (15:31.182)

for sure.

And so Mark, I'm curious when you guys do that and goes back into the PMS, does it split because people will like get annoyed when it's like a split payment and my family balance might be $1 ,000, but only 25 come to Kiera and the rest goes to Jason. Does it split or do they need to manually split at the practice level?

Mark Rasmussen (15:52.472)

You can do it in two ways. So I'll speak for our system. When you run a payment in Crown, which is our payment platform, you can either have that payment be an unallocated payments, right? And just post to the ledger at the guarantor level. And then you can decide where you want to split that up to, or you can actually, from our system, you can do that transaction, that payment allocated to procedure. And you can pick, when you're doing that allocation, you can pick within the family members,

and at the procedure level of where that payment's going to be allocated to, just as if you were to natively do it in the PMS. So you can do it, you know, like for prepayments, right? Prepayments is something where it's unallocated and then you can assign it afterwards. Or again, you can just assign the payment to the procedure right out of the gate, either way. Yeah.

Kiera Dent (16:27.502)

That's awesome.

Mm -hmm.

Kiera Dent (16:41.39)

That's awesome. And for patient or for practice, like of course they're going to feel concerned about like, yeah, but Mark, if people are making payments and I don't know and they're doing it at night, how do I make sure I don't miss any of these payments? So kind of what's Moolah's process to make sure they don't miss it.

Mark Rasmussen (16:53.272)

Great question. Yeah, great question. So first thing is that we notify the practices in two ways. One is they'll get an email when a payment's made, you know, anytime, whether it's after hours or they're gonna get an email that hits their inbox. And then within our software itself, in the top header, we have this notification bell that anytime there is a transaction that's been made after hours, like a website payment or text to pay, it's gonna let them notify them that it was done. So they're not gonna miss it.

Kiera Dent (17:20.686)

So Mark, as you said all these things, I just thought, to me it felt like I was just talking to a normal website that I purchase on all the time, right? Like I think about Amazon. Amazon's so easy. I make payments. I think about the hospital even where my husband works, like when I go see my doctor. They're not sending me paper statements. I don't think I've gotten a paper statement from a medical office in so long. I also just thought I went to therapy the other day and they're like, do you want it on your card on file? And like,

It's crazy because that's how we live in our day -to -day lives of all the things we as consumers are consuming, but yet in our dental practices, we're so far behind, which is why I'm obsessed with you guys as a company. And why I wanted to bring you on the podcast and share you with our community is because the reality is, this is so...

Mark Rasmussen (18:03.544)

Thank you.

Kiera Dent (18:05.806)

like up and coming, but you're also I love the passion that comes from you. Like I can tell that you're not just somebody who's like, here we are. You're constantly thinking like, all right, what's the next thing and how are we going to make this even easier? And how can we make this so much simpler for the practices? And I think getting on board with companies that are young, that are innovative. I know you said you're only like 30 based on like you starting like in the industry at one years old. I think you're only 30 years old now, right? But you've constantly made it and brought you, but you brought this young energy with you of staying tech and saying savvy and

Mark Rasmussen (18:26.104)

Right. Yeah. 50.

Kiera Dent (18:35.918)

I mean, the thought of having those processors that can come into the operatories, like same day treatment is so easy. We're not taking the cards and walking them up front and then bringing it back to them. Like it's just normal. I mean, we think about going to restaurants and now there's like little Apple pay sitting at our booth, even if we have a server. We have innovated as a society and making sure practices do that. But Mark, the questions always come and this is why people don't switch processors. One is it's hard to break up with my current processor. So what do they do in that regard?

Mark Rasmussen (18:50.68)

Yeah.

Kiera Dent (19:04.846)

to break up with a processor in an easy way if they want to switch to Moolah.

Mark Rasmussen (19:10.168)

Great question. So the first thing that I, when we're talking to practices, what I always like to say, and cause it's exactly right, making a switch from, you know, your processor, your legacy processor to somebody else seems daunting. It's like, okay, this is going to be a pain. I got people got to learn my stuff. well, we always tell practices, I'm like, don't cancel your current processor. Like Pepsi, Pepsi challenges, right?

Don't disrupt anything, keep your current processor, try out Moolah, bring us into your practice, don't cancel your existing processor, and make sure you guys love it like we say you're gonna love it. I want them to feel comfortable. And that does a couple things. One is after two weeks and they hate us, then great, we can part with friends and we'll have the hardware picked up and they didn't change anything with their current provider. But if they love us like I believe they're gonna love us, well then great, that gave them, that gave the staff the peace of mind of knowing like, hey yeah, I've got this new system.

but I have my old system in place in case I don't remember how to do something. So not trying to time of like, hey, when should I close my old? When do I add in Moolah? Don't put yourself through that stress. Just add Moolah, try us out. And again, there's no contracts with us. So just bring us alongside, Pepsi challenges for a couple of weeks. And then when your staff and everybody's like, yeah, we love Moolah, cool. Then at that point, you can make arrangements with your processor to close that out.

Kiera Dent (20:17.454)

Mm -hmm.

Mark Rasmussen (20:36.344)

I can't can't to other processors, right? Because many of them have, you know, these long -term contracts and early termination fees. They'll have to course check with their vendor. But the good thing is that once you make that break and once you do come with Mula, Moolah, never have that worry again. There's no contracts with us. At any time, if anybody wants to close out their account, really easy to do business with us, really easy to not do business with us. Let us know. We'll have the hardware picked up at our expense and we'll wish each other well, you know? It's all good.

Kiera Dent (21:05.486)

Mm -hmm.

Mark Rasmussen (21:06.2)

So at least they can make that break and get out of the contracts and be with a company where they can truly be in a month to month environment.

Kiera Dent (21:14.67)

Which is amazing. And I think something that's really awesome is I was thinking about that. If you are in a long -term contract and you can't get out of it, Processing is only charging you on the fees that you do. You might have a monthly fee with the hot hardware that you did purchase, or that might be something you paid upfront. However, you can actually move almost all of your transactions over to Moolah while you wait for that contract to leave. And so just don't think that you have to wait until that contract ends. I do process on two different processors intentionally because I want to like,

Mark Rasmussen (21:35.928)

point.

Kiera Dent (21:43.726)

leave one and move to another one, but I'm debating because that's going to lead me to my next question about fees. I'm testing two companies currently myself, intentionally, but you can, you can move all your processing over to Moolah if you love them so much, even if you're in contract. So I want that to just be a note for you guys to be afraid of. Yeah.

Mark Rasmussen (21:45.944)

Yeah.

Mark Rasmussen (21:58.712)

Yes, good point. Yeah, exactly. And you know, in tip to your point there. Even even if you're going to, you know, not cancel the service, maybe that's going to relate to, you know, 20 $30 a month and just maintenance fees. And you're like, well, hey, that still makes sense rather than having to spend three or $400 termination fee. I'm just going to pay the monthly minimum, you know, for whatever it is that six months to take me to that contract term. Yeah, you don't have to wait, you can just kind of pay that minimum.

Kiera Dent (22:20.814)

Right.

Mark Rasmussen (22:27.32)

and then actually cancel it when you're not going to get hit with a termination fee. Yeah.

Kiera Dent (22:30.51)

sure. Yeah, so again, don't feel locked into it because they're going to want you to think you're locked, but it's a very minimal fee, especially if you love it. But something I am curious about, Mark, I feel I will just speak a little bit candidly about the industry. Credit card processors have a little bit of a reputation of being amazing at the beginning, and then they start tacking on all these stupid fees that I don't know, which is why there's companies like Merchant Advocate that come in and check and make sure that our processing fees are not too high. So walk me through processing freeze with Moolah.

because realistically that is always a scary thing when you switch processors. And I think that that's also another reason people don't want to switch. I love you. I love the things you do, but also are you charging me? Like right now I've got somebody who's like, Kiera, switch over to us and we'll be at 2 .9, which I still think is higher. I'd prefer it to be more like 2 .5 % processing fee, but they just sent me an email and I'm very disappointed because they're a very large company and I was so freaking pumped to use them. But they said,

In one year, so I'm like, you guys are smart. You want me to like get all my clients on this new processor. And then in one year, they're literally going to tack on this huge freaking fee on me. And I'm annoyed because it's going to be 10 bucks per transaction, like up to $10 per transaction indefinitely because they're now adding on this like stupid software. I feel annoyed by that. So I'm speaking very candidly. Tell me how your guys's fees work because obviously this is what people are going to be concerned about too. As much as I love you, I also make sure the fees make sense.

Mark Rasmussen (23:30.168)

Right.

Mark Rasmussen (23:41.976)

Yeah. Yeah. Yep.

Mark Rasmussen (23:50.132)

Yep. Yeah, exactly. So we're, we're all about simplicity, right? Like, we love technology, and we love simplicity. So we've been talking about technology, let's talk about simplicity. So you know, anybody out there who's listening to this, and you've seen a merchant account statement, right? Nine and a half, actually, yeah, nine and a half out of 10 times, you look at that merchant statement, that month end statements, it's your eyes will roll back, it's like,

line item after line item after line item of like miscellaneous fees like, okay, this visa fee, this interchange fee, this transaction fee, PCI fees, don't even get me started on PCI fees, but we'll come back to that. PCI fees, monthly minimums, annual fees. I mean, it's crazy. It's like way overcomplicated by design. Not only that, I run in and talk to a lot of practices where like, you know, it's funny.

Kiera Dent (24:19.978)

Yeah. Mm -hmm.

Kiera Dent (24:30.062)

They're sane.

Mark Rasmussen (24:44.664)

They're like, hey, I started engaging with you and then it had me look at my merchant processing again and my merchant processing statement that I just looked at and the pricing we're paying today is very different than it was when we signed up with them two years ago. So over these two years, they've been bumping up the rates unbeknownst to them. So, you know, with that being said, Moolah takes a very, you know, simple approach. With Moolah, you get, you know, our platform, you get our technology, right?

Kiera Dent (24:57.166)

Mm -hmm.

Right.

Mark Rasmussen (25:11.192)

There's no monthly SaaS fees or annual fees. There's no fees for the software, number one. The hardware, we're gonna provide the practice to brand new wireless smart terminals. They don't have to buy, rent, or lease those devices, they're included. Not only do we provide them the devices, but we also warranty them indefinitely, which is huge, because normally you're buying these devices, and normally it's like a 12 -month manufacturer's warranty. And then Murphy's Law kicks in half the time, and then it's like month 14, the device fails.

And then you're like, oops, sorry, you got to buy a new device. Whereas with Moolah, first of all, as mentioned, we give them the hardware, but we're warranting them indefinitely, even beyond hardware failure, even accidental damage we will cover. So a practice that comes on board with us, three years later, they call us like, hey, we accidentally dropped the device off the counter and broke, cracked the screen. We'll cover that. Just give us a call. We'll provision replacement. We'll overnight it. So practices that do, you know, processing with Moolah.

totally are future -proofing themselves of ever having hardware expense again. Okay? So no fees on the software, no fees on the hardware. So then it comes down to we make our revenue on the merchant processing. And we've done that. And I think is a really fair, simple and straightforward approach. It breaks down to this. There's literally two fees that a Moolah practice will have when they do business with us. One rate, which is 2 .49 % flat rate for anything that's done in practice.

Kiera Dent (26:17.582)

Mm -hmm.

Mark Rasmussen (26:35.416)

And it doesn't matter whether it's an Amex or a Visa or a Mashcard Discover, the card type doesn't matter. If it's done in person, it's 2 .49%. There's not a transaction fee on top of that. Normally, you'll see like 10 or 20 cents per transaction. None of that, just 2 .49. And then that same logic carries over for any of the card not present transactions. So that would be 2 .99 % for anything that's done, you know, text to pay, the website payment.

Kiera Dent (26:47.95)

Mm -hmm.

Mark Rasmussen (27:01.304)

So it's literally only those two pricing elements. 2 .49 on transactions are done in practice, 2 .99 where the card is not present, nothing else. And so, you know, when I say nothing else, literally nothing else. So we're eliminating all the kind of miscellaneous fees that we were talking about earlier. The statement fees, the interchange fees, PCI fees. This is a crowd favorite. So not only do we remove the PCI fees, right? And I'm sorry to the rest of my industry.

Kiera Dent (27:19.278)

Mm -hmm.

Mark Rasmussen (27:30.552)

peers, but this is the truth. PCI is a complete racket. It's become a financial racket to processors of looking to extract more revenue. So we look at PCI where there not only is there never a fee with Moolah on a PCI fee, but we take care of all the tasks. No longer does the practice have to do that once a year self -assessment questionnaire. No longer do they need to deal with quarterly scans. It's

Kiera Dent (27:35.694)

Yeah.

Kiera Dent (27:51.05)

Thank you.

Mark Rasmussen (27:58.04)

All the PCI elements are managed on the practices behalf. So they never have a PCI fee or a task to do as long as they're with Moolah, which people love. So, and again, as I already mentioned, there's no annual fees, there's no contracts. This is 249 .299. And to really hit that home, as we were talking about previously of like, hey, somebody just trying out Moolah, right? So if you're trying us out, let's say you sign up with Moolah, we send you the hardware.

Kiera Dent (28:07.854)

Mm -hmm.

Mark Rasmussen (28:26.264)

but you didn't get around to actually switching over and then the month goes by. Well, guess what? You would have zero expense from Moolah. If you didn't process any payments from us, nothing's gonna kick in. There's no minimums, there's no statement fees, none of that. So if you didn't process a credit card payment, you would have zero expense from us. So, you know, expense is truly driven from when you process credit card transactions and that's it. So really simple, right? And really straightforward and, you know,

Kiera Dent (28:50.638)

Mm -hmm.

Mark Rasmussen (28:53.304)

people can get around and knowing what this costs because again, we wear our pricing on our sleeve. There's no surprises. We don't play that game of like teaser rates and then a couple of months kind of sneak in a little message and hope nobody notices and increase the rate. Those rates are gonna be as they are. There's no intention of increasing them.

Kiera Dent (29:06.446)

Yep.

Kiera Dent (29:12.142)

Yeah, and it's interesting as you're saying that, Mark, I pulled up one of my processing fees. So I'm just curious, because this is what I'm seeing. So tell me, what things are actually nonsense versus what are real? Line item, it says two, visa never approved domestic. What does that even mean?

Mark Rasmussen (29:28.728)

So that's referring to an interchange element. So here's the first thing we'll say. Interchange, which is basically the wholesale cost from, you know, not to bore everybody, your audience, but you've got two sides of the equation in credit cards. You have the card issuers, which are patients banks, you know, from their Citibank Visa or their Capital One Visa. And then you have the acquiring banks, which represent the merchants. So interchange is what the card issuers charge the acquiring banks when their customers present their card to their merchants. That's interchange.

Kiera Dent (29:36.078)

Mm -hmm.

Mark Rasmussen (29:58.776)

And so interchange consists of hundreds and hundreds of different card types with different price points. And so whether it was a Visa, vanilla, you know, plain Visa card, was it a debit card, was it a rewards card, was it a corporate card? So all these variations of interchange expense and there's all these nuances of different fees related to that. Now, listen, these elements happen, doesn't matter who your processor is, all these elements are happening with Moolah in the backend, but we just absorb it all. And so,

Kiera Dent (30:10.286)

Great.

Mark Rasmussen (30:28.408)

Even though we're very simple in our rates to the practice, make no qualms about it. We're not any different. There's a lot of elements behind the scenes of different expenses that are happening non -domestically. You were talking about rewards, downgrades, all these things are happening behind the scenes. But to our practices, they don't care about that. And they don't need to worry about that. They know that if they do it in their practice, it's 249. And if they do it as a Cardinal President, it's 299.

Don't worry about anything else. We're managing all that behind the scenes.

Kiera Dent (30:58.798)

That's awesome. Yeah, because as I'm looking at this statement, I'm like, interesting. I didn't know I had a monthly service fee that has been added on a fixed acquire network fee, another AXP system processing fee that's quite substantial. And I'm like, none of those things were on there prior when I originally signed up. And so I was like, hey. Hey. And so it's interesting.

Mark Rasmussen (31:14.872)

You're like, that wasn't on this, that wasn't on my sign up form. I don't remember seeing that. All right, well, we need to talk after the podcast and get you guys over to Moolah, right?

Kiera Dent (31:22.574)

I know. Okay, I know. So anyway, that's what I wanted to point out to you guys is like me even looking at this right now, like as listening to the podcast with Mark, like double, I mean, you probably saw my eyes shift over because I was like, what the heck? I got all these fees sitting over here. But what's crazy is I've kind of hovered around this like 2 .9 % for all the time. But I just knew that they were tacking on fees and I had to do this like, my gosh, Mark, we really want to bore people. I had to do all these like

compliance things and they had me do this whole thing to get my rates down and I'm still not but I'm in this higher compliance area. All this nonsense. But anyway, beyond that, I think everybody should use moolah. So I think for modernized payments, I think for the 2 .49, that's insane. Like people are all talking about what are ways that we can save costs on our overhead. Well, get your processing fee down to 2 .49 in practice, you're going to be substantially lower. And then the other ones are 2 .9, which is still lower than what most are at most around three.

Mark Rasmussen (31:54.424)

Right. Yeah.

Mark Rasmussen (32:00.216)

Thanks.

Kiera Dent (32:17.326)

I would usually see about 2 .5 to 3 .3 is typically what I'm seeing for fees, not to mention all the additional add -ons and also having to pay for your process. So if an office, let's say they've got two of these, but they want more, they're a really large practice, do they pay extra for an additional terminal? I would assume yes, because you guys complimentary too, do they pay for extra terminals?

Mark Rasmussen (32:23.64)

Yep. Yep.

Mark Rasmussen (32:38.424)

They do. So we provide them two, if they want additional devices, it's $30 a month for those additional devices. If they're a larger practice, you know, you sweet talk us a little bit. Well, we have been known to include an extra device or two if it's a larger practice. So, yeah, exactly. Talk to the team. But the short of it is that if the practice is joined more than $60 ,000 a month,

Kiera Dent (32:45.517)

Wow, awesome, very easy.

Kiera Dent (32:55.214)

So, you know, do a little good sales pitch to Mark over here.

Mark Rasmussen (33:08.44)

and they need additional devices, we're usually pretty flexible about providing those additional devices.

Kiera Dent (33:14.51)

Do you guys ever do reduced pricing at all if a practice is doing large amounts per month? Or is it just like, this is what it is? I was curious, because I know there's a lot that do hire amounts.

Mark Rasmussen (33:20.248)

We do, we do. We do. So matter of fact, so we have the 249 .299 is our wrap rate for dentists. Any practices that come through one of our partnerships, those come in at a reduced rate. And then we have even a lower tier if the practice is multi -practice as multi -locations. So definitely inquire with us.

about those, you know, reduce rates if you're with any of our partners. And yeah, a lot of them. You know, the other thing I was going to mention, just because this is kind of exciting and new for us, and it's crazy how much this has been, practices have been asking about this over the last 12 months. The question that a lot of practices come to us and ask, and they say, is there any way that I can offload my credit card processing fee to the patient?

Kiera Dent (33:50.702)

for sure.

Kiera Dent (34:11.982)

Yeah. Yeah, I'm curious on this.

Mark Rasmussen (34:15.096)

A year ago, we would get that request one out of 10 times. Today, we get that request like seven or eight out of 10 times. So like the cats out of the bag, like people want that. So I'm happy to announce that we just went into beta on being able to offer compliant surcharging. And so you'll be able to practice what they'd like to, they'll be able to offload the credit card processing fee, both in practice and any of the card not present activity, the text to pay, the website payment.

Kiera Dent (34:22.35)

Mm -hmm. Agreed.

Mark Rasmussen (34:44.792)

you'll be able to offload the credit card processing fee onto the patient. That only does on the credit cards. You're not allowed to do that on the debit cards, right? Debit cards, there's no additional fee to the patient, but if they're paying with a credit card, you'll be able to offload the credit card processing fee to them. And the nice thing with that Moolah is that not only are we giving them the capability to do that, but we're also handling that surcharge amount correctly in the PMS when we're posting into it from an accounting perspective and keeping that clean. Yeah.

Kiera Dent (34:54.03)

Mm -hmm.

Kiera Dent (35:10.538)

 amazing because agreed I think that's a big piece. I mean when I look at my credit card processing fees a year I'm like we're in the upwards higher like it's almost like another employee when you look at that annual amount that you're paying credit card processing fees and so I just think it's a really awesome way I really love you guys mark. That's why you guys are a sponsor of ours this year That's why you guys are a partner of ours And so definitely everybody let them know that you came from the Dental A Team podcast mark How do people connect with you because I think people should modernize their payments?

Mark Rasmussen (35:19.832)

Yeah. Yeah, no doubt.

Kiera Dent (35:39.47)

I just feel like would you continue purchasing from Amazon if you had to send them a paper check? The answer's hard pass, no. Would you continue working with Amazon if you couldn't shop at night on them? The answer is no. Would you continue working? And I understand that Amazon does not feel like a dental office, but I'm like, I wouldn't continue seeing my therapist or all these different people. It's so archaic when you go to other even medical professionals that don't take Apple Pay. I'm like, what, you don't take Apple Pay?

Like, what are you doing? Like, everybody takes Apple Pay. Everybody does the tap pay. Why am I still having to insert my card or write you a check or give you my card? Like, it just feels so archaic. And I love, Marc, you guys truly have modernized it and it's not hard. And I love that it's very simple and that people can try you out, see if they like you, but offices that are using you that I know love you. So how can offices get Moolah in their practice? Yeah.

Mark Rasmussen (36:05.976)

Yeah. Yeah.

Mark Rasmussen (36:27.32)

 Cool. I would recommend if any practice that's interested in learning more about us is, and maybe Kiera in this podcast and description or something, put a link for, because we have preferred pricing for Dental A Team clients. And so I would just take a look at that link that's probably associated with this podcast. And on that page, you guys can go ahead and schedule a time. It's convenient for you to do a demo. And so I think a demo is the, is the,

Kiera Dent (36:40.43)

course.

Mark Rasmussen (36:57.176)

best natural step for any of your listeners that want to know more about Moolah. And again, schedule that demo and we'll run them through and show them all of the features, all the benefits, and then assist them with getting signed up at that preferred rate that they'll get through Dental A Team.

Kiera Dent (37:15.182)

Amazing Mark. And I just like, you know, I love to like sweeten it a smidgey for you guys. So let's just do a hypothetical, a practice is processing a million a year. Okay. And they are just paying that extra half a percentage mark, right? That would be pretty simple. Right? So, you know, if you guys are just paying that extra half a percentage, I'm doing this on a million. That's a $50 ,000. It's insanity to me of how much you guys are saving. Did I do my math right?

Mark Rasmussen (37:24.632)

Yeah.

Mark Rasmussen (37:29.592)

Yeah? Yeah?

Mark Rasmussen (37:40.216)

Right? Yeah.

Kiera Dent (37:44.654)

Or is it less than that? A million and we're doing, I lied to you guys. $5 ,000, $5 ,000 just on a half percentage, five grand, which might not seem like enough for you guys to go after. Five grand just by switching processors that you would be saving every year, just on a million dollar practice that you process. That's like, and you probably listen, yes, just the rate.

Mark Rasmussen (37:49.048)

We said a half a percent.

Right. Right.

Mark Rasmussen (38:04.344)

And you're just talking the rate. And you're just talking about the rate. What about all the other miscellaneous fees that they're probably paying as well? So it's going to be more than five grand. And I feel very strongly that they would be improving their experience on a daily basis with the technology. So not only are you saving on the rate, but you're just improving your day -to -day experience with payments. It's kind of a win -win.

Kiera Dent (38:13.39)

Yes, but right alone!

Kiera Dent (38:22.062)

I love you, Clint.

Kiera Dent (38:29.55)

And as a team member, I have way less I've got to do. I don't have to remember. I've got a drip campaign. I can have them pay on that. I'm not sending statements anymore. So those costs in and of themselves. So I'm just saying, like, for a million dollar practice, it's a guarantee, probably $5 ,000 savings for you just on the rate, let alone everything else. So I think it's worthwhile to schedule that demo. So Mark, thanks for being on the podcast today.

Mark Rasmussen (38:51.224)

It was awesome. Thank you so much for allowing us to be there We're so glad to be a sponsor and be with you guys. You guys are rock stars. So appreciate you

Kiera Dent (38:58.03)

 Amazing. Well, for all of you listening, guys, don't be like, take the effort, go look into this. It will save you so much money and your team will be happier. Definitely reach out and for all of you listening, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

2024 is here, and so is Kiera to help listeners have success in the new year. She talks about three ways to start things off right:

There’s always that one patient… Kiera talks about the professional way to go about communicating with a rude patient, even when it includes dismissing them (listen up for dismissal letter verbiage!). Remember: There’s always a lesson to be learned in these situations.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera

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Review the podcast

Transcript:

Kiera Dent (00:00.91)

Hello Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera and welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. I hope you guys are having the best day of your entire lives. I really do mean that. Today is, there's a really cool quote that I read and I want you guys to have it. It says, no matter how many mistakes you make or how slow your progress, you are still way ahead of everyone who isn't trying. That's from Tony Robbins. And I just, I read that the other day and I thought, gosh, our podcast family and our clients need to just realize like,

We really are doing so much more than we think we are. We're doing so much better than we give ourselves credit for. So I hope you just like give yourself a nice pat on the back. I'll do it for you. Uh, but really you are doing a great job and I think it's so easy to criticize and it's so hard to compliment. And I think we build momentum in either one of those ways. And so look to see which way you're building momentum consistently. So today guys, I am on a quick tactical podcast. Are you guys ready for this? I hope you are. Um, one of these is going to be just really fun.

I want you guys to have a quick tactical on how to handle difficult or rude patients. Don't worry, I go from like, it's amazing and we're so happy to like, how do you deal with those rude patients and what do we do with them? So if you're loving our podcast, please do me a favor and help us get into the hands of every dental practice out there by sharing this, by sending it to somebody who could use it, by someone who needs that boost, even if it's not this one, but send our podcast to somebody and leave us those reviews.

That's how you guys are going to help us beat the tough dental podcast that is shared with all of the practices, because if we can help them be better, we help more patients, we serve more people, and we're able to all rise together. So with that, how do we handle these rude patients? Number one, I think about, let's define difficult or rude patients. Are they a good patient or do they just like, when we see their name on the schedule, do we all just like, because I have two people, one is the assistant dean from Midwestern.

He told me that every year at Christmas time, he gave his team a gift and they were all able to go through and they actually dismissed like the top patients that really just made all of them cringe. And that was the gift he gave his team. And I've thought about that so much because we oftentimes think like we need every patient. No, we don't. We actually need those kind patients and we want the patients who are great patients that we don't look at. With that said though, there are some that will challenge us and I don't want you dismissing people that challenge. Now difficult or rude ones that we just literally like, oh my gosh.

Kiera Dent (02:27.406)

Give yourself the freedom and the luxury of realizing it's okay to dismiss them. And the way we can do that in a professional manner is you can just write them a letter and just say like, hey, Kie

ra, at this point, we don't feel that we are serving and meeting your dental needs the way that we want to. And we're so committed to always being able to serve our patients at the highest level. We never ever, ever want to leave you empty handed or without a plan and a path.

So as of now, we are having you removed as a patient within our practice due to the fact we don't feel like we're serving you at the highest level. And we're actually going to be recommending you to, and you list off two or three different dentists that are amazing in the area that could take great care of them. Now check with your legal team, just make sure. But really it's just, we're dismissing them in a professional manner. We don't feel like we're serving them at the highest level. And so we're going to actually dismiss them, but we're going to give them a place to go.

And so we actually do have a sample one. It is not legal, and I will put stamps all over it. But it's one that you can say, after careful consideration and thought, we found that it will be in all of our best interests to sever the practice patient relationship here that we have with you. We found that we may not be the best fit for your dental needs and are unable to carry out the services you may require for your specific case. At this time, we're recommending that using dental care through a new dental care provider.

And from there, like that was a little more direct. I do like it. I also think though, like, let's give them a few other options of where they can go. So we can like, we're going to make sure that they're informed, that they're guided, that we make sure that they're going to be given some help. And I really think that it's fine. I'm like, we just don't feel like we're serving you at the highest level. And due to that, we are severing the relationship where we are.

ending our relationship with you. And here are a few other practices that we think would be incredible that are going to take great care of you, because we really do want you to be taken care of. I don't care how much you dislike these people. You all know that you want these people to be taken care of. You know that you want to love them and serve them at the highest level. And you know that you want them to be taken care of. We don't want to want to just like kick someone off onto the street. We do want them to be taken care of. But at the same time, you don't need to have every patient in your practice.

Kiera Dent (04:43.566)

And if they literally do make you're like, Oh, it's the groan. It's the, I just would rather not see this patient ever again. Do yourself a favor. Um, I have a reminder that pops up on my, on my tasks every so often. And I said, only work with clients who light my soul on fire. And, uh, that was something I had to realize. And that doesn't mean that if you don't light my soul on fire, that there's no other consultant in our company. Um, but for me to really realize that.

the soul sucking energy was actually taking a lot more from me with working with clients that maybe I wasn't best suited for, or maybe we just didn't jive as much. Like I love my clients that when I get on a call, my soul is filled. It doesn't matter if it's a hard thing or not. Like that's who I want to work with. And so for you in practicing, there will be some patients that you want to dismiss. And so I really, really, really would just say, we send them a letter. We say, as of this day, as of this time, we are no longer seeing you as a patient. And here are the people that are going to be great.

make sure that their balances are all taken care of. We want to make sure that we have that taken care of for you because there's also a space like if we do have collections, we also need to dismiss them with the collection. So like if it's someone who has a collections balance that we can dismiss them from the practice as well. So we've contacted for a dismissal because of collections, we can say we've contacted you several occasions with monthly statements, telephone messages and personal letters.

regarding your outstanding balances with our practice. We have determined that due to the noncompliance with our practice's financial policy that we must terminate our dentist -patient relationship. In order to allow you adequate time to find another dentist, we will be available during regular business hours for the same safety visits time permitting should an emergency arise in the next 30 days. You may contact the local dental society or find somebody else, and we're happy to forward your x -rays to your new dentist. And that's how we can dismiss them.

I really do love if I have dentists that you can recommend or again, like here's a few that we know do take your insurance because we really do want to make sure that you're taking care of. I do like that version of it as well. If you do want to offer the 30 days for them just to make sure that they're taking care of because there's so many ways that we can handle these patients. But again, I don't want you dismissing somebody or I wouldn't recommend that you just somebody who challenges you or who.

Kiera Dent (07:04.398)

who forces you to be better, right? There's, I know I have some clients that, well, they might not quote unquote light my soul on fire. They're probably really good for me because their questions and the things they do, and they're not disrespectful to me. They just challenge me and they make me have to be a better version of myself. Now, the ones who are rude or difficult or never keep their appointments or they don't pay their balances or it's just, it's so much headache. My thoughts are, why are we doing this? We're a service industry.

And if they're not meeting our expectations, let's dismiss them. Do yourself and your team the favor. Dismiss them. You can do it in a professional manner. You can send them a letter. You can have it where you work with them for 30 days. There's a way for you to be able to work with them and send them to another provider. Please don't pass your bad patients to your friends. But remember, just because they're a difficult, rude patient for you might mean that they would, doesn't mean that they'd be a bad fit for someone else.

I also want you to really look at it as to why are they so difficult and what have we done to not have those clear expectations? So if they're always missing appointments, did we not have a clear policy on that? If they're constantly running late, did we not have a clear policy on that? If they're not paying their balances, did we not have a clear policy and protocol on that? So this way we do everything on our side too to make it to where it's there. So instead of.

blaming them. Let's also take some ownership doesn't mean we don't dismiss them. I'm totally fine because it should light your soul on fire. And I hate when there's a patient like I know exactly who it was. It Dr. Calls office we had a patient named Betty. I was like, I hate seeing Betty. Like she's just so mean and she takes so much time and she never is paying and there's always a problem with everything that we ever do. Like, I just don't enjoy this.

But again, let's look to see, did we not have a policy in place of like warranty work of we will do one visit for you. And then after that, each additional visit will be a normal limited exam fee. That's a simple way to actually fix this difficult, rude patient with a simple protocol to let them know the rules of the game. And so that's something else I would do is with these difficult, rude patients, how can you change the rules of the game and make it stronger and better to where you can serve them? Do we just need to change the rules of the game and help them out? And then they become these amazing patients.

Kiera Dent (09:17.39)

that could also be the shift. So one, before I dismiss, let's look to see what is truly the root cause and is there something we can change in our protocols or our policies to not have them be a difficult or a rude patient? Number two, dismiss them. It's okay. Give yourself the freedom and the gift and make space for these incredible patients to come in that value, value your team, value your time, because you're going to be happier and you'll be in a better state of flow. And that doesn't mean that we have to do it in a rude way.

We send them a letter, we take care of them, we give them the recommendations, but we are very clear that we are severing the relationship. They will no longer be seen in our practice and that they do need to find another practice and we're here to support them on that path. Whatever your verbiage is, again, that's gonna be a path for you to talk with your CPA and your lawyers and just make sure it is compliant and that you can send it off. And so just get that approved. Those are some samples I gave you, but do do your due diligence on that. So with that, I think that this is awesome training for your team as well.

to let them know how we handle it, how we look for it. And this is something I really love because in the Dental A Team, we don't just work with dentists, but we work with your teams as well. And so we're able to give them those tools and those resources and that help. And so if we can help your team and empower them of how to handle these difficult patients, because sometimes it's our protocols that create the difficulty, not necessarily the patient. We weren't clear with our expectations. Therefore, we need to actually have them reset. So with that reach out, if we can help, hello@thedentalateam.com. Here's your quick tactical.

how to handle those difficult, rude patients. Remember, you deserve to have patients who light your soul on fire, who make you so excited to come to work, not dreading to come to work. And those ones that you do dread, let's move them along, serve them at the highest level, always end in the most professional, compassionate way, and do yourself a favor. So, and if we can ever help and serve, reach out hello@thedentalateam.com.. Click on the link if you guys want some help with these dismissal letters, be sure to reach out hello@thedentalateam.com.. And as always, thanks for listening, and I'll catch you next time on The Dental A Team Podcast.

Episode 734: Experts of Dentistry

It’s been a minute, but Kiera and Tiff are back together on the pod! In this episode, they discuss ways they each go about maintaining a grateful mindset, personally and professionally, when things get hard. Think of this as a grateful muscle you need to build and burn to keep it toned.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Tiff and Kiera

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Review the podcast

Do you often think of your practice’s or company’s core value? We sure hope you do! They’re an important part of setting the culture at your place of work, and guideposts on the roadmap to success. The Dental A-Team is currently reworking its core values to attract better hires. Listen to this episode for a core value exercise to see where you stand with your current values, and then learn if they might need to be re-shifted.

Also included are the eight attributes of teams and companies that succeeded over the past year! Check ‘em out:

1. Candor

2. Collaboration

3. Teaming out

4. Accountability

5. Development

6. Energy

7. Relationship

8. Outcomes

This rework should be a team effort, so make sure you’re including the gang! If you want to hear more about core values, listen to episode 244, Workshop Wednesday: The Hardest Part.

Does having a personal assistant mean you’re extremely wealthy? Kiera says no! This episode is all about the benefits of personal assistants, and the journey Kiera went on to realize them....Continue Reading...

Block scheduling can transform your productivity into profitability. Kiera makes the implementation as easy as 1, 2, 3:

1. Identify your practice's production goals.

2. Design your ideal block schedule.

3. Implement, train, and track.

Episode resources:

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Transcript

kiera Dent (00:02.36)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera. And today, I just really wanted to dive into, are you truly tired of missing production goals? Because if you are, block scheduling is honestly the secret to hitting them consistently with ease. And I know this is something that's talked about so often. So what I wanted to do is I wanted to break this down into three easy steps to make sure that you're able to do this with your team in a fun, effective, and just like overall amazing way for you.

Block scheduling can truly transform your productivity into profitability. And it's something as simple as doing a quick puzzle in your practice where we're able to add the pieces, have an incredible patient experience, incredible team experience, incredible doctor experience. And to me, that's a win-win-win. So for that, these three steps are going to really make it easy for you and your team to...

chunk this down into a tactical practical way. You guys, I'm Kiera Dent, owner and CEO of the Dental A Team, a consulting company where we are committed to not just understanding you, but actually being you. All of our consultants have worked in every position in the practice where we're able to understand what it's like to not be able to hit productivity goals, to schedule with no frustration, to have cancellations that are dropping off on us, to where we know what it's like to lose team members. All of those things are something that our Dental A Team

consultants are experts at and something that I'm really really proud of as a company because I know that when we understand you we're not just coming to you with theories and ideas but actual tips that have been proven, tried, consistent across hundreds of offices in all the states in multiple different countries to make sure that we're giving you guys efficiency that helps your team stay focused. So this is gonna be able to help you guys out and today it's gonna be short and actionable because I want you guys to able to take what we talk about and implement it today.

So step one is going to be identify your practices production goals. Now that what we got to do is we've got to look to see what did our practice produce last year and a healthy standard benchmark is that we want to actually be increasing a minimum of 10 % year over year. We also want to make sure that we've increased our fee schedules every single year and most practices go up about 5%. Now, if you're concerned about that with your fee for service patients or your out of pocket patients, I want to just remind you that this is standard across the board with most businesses to increase 5%.

Kiera Dent (02:14.402)

And if you wanna keep those preventative ones out, by all means go for it. I just wanna be able to remind you that by doing so, when we actually send our statements out to insurance and we bill out to insurance, it actually helps the insurance companies determine what the fee should be within our area. So I wanna make sure that we're not missing opportunities and possibly a membership plan could actually help our patients when we're concerned about those preventative services. So make sure that we know what we need to do for that 10 % growth.

make sure we understand how many days we're off in the practice. So I like to go through every single month. What are the vacations? What are the holidays? What are the times off? What are our high and low months across the board? I know for some pediatric practices, our certain months in the year are actually not great, but our summer months are incredible. I know for other areas based on where they are, they get a lot of snowfall in February. So February actually becomes a terrible month for them. There's also other offices where there's a notorious, suck timber or slam dunk September.

where we actually have a dip right after school gets back in session. So knowing those trends are actually gonna be able to know your practice's production goals to be able to hit them successfully. And while yes, this might take a little time for us to go through, map these things out, what it What it it does is it actually helps us go through and see what does our production need to be? How can we realistically hit it based on the days that we're working? What does each day need to be? What does each provider goal need to be for our doctors and our hygienists? And then we're able to actually bring all that information together.

and make a perfect puzzle for us. And then we start to place it into place. So when an office does this, usually I'm seeing a minimum of a 10 % increase, but oftentimes I'm seeing a 10, 20, 30, 40 % increase year over year. I've added multiple millions to practices and our consultants have done as well just by effective block scheduling where we're not increasing the new patients. We're not changing the hours that they're working. We're not adding more days for them to work. We're just being very consistent with how they actually schedule. And it's like I said, it's a puzzle.

I can put in five puzzle pieces of one type, or I can do five different puzzle pieces. Again, I put five puzzle pieces in same amount of time in a day, but I'm actually able to make a thousand dollars versus a $5,000 a day. It was crazy. had an office that I went into and I remember they had never been scheduled to 10, $10,000 in a day. And so when I went in and I showed them, here's how we can actually do 10,000, I scheduled them to 10,000 the next day. What was wild was the day I was there, they were producing 4,000.

Kiera Dent (04:35.778)

The next day I scheduled them to 10,000 showing them how to do this. And at the end of the $10,000 day, they looked at me high-fiving. We were out the door on time and they said, Kiera, that was actually easier than our day was yesterday when we only produced 4,000. And I said, it was just with blocks. It was just with us being strategic of where we put people as being intentional. And from there, we were actually able to be productive. So just helping you guys see, we've got to figure out what our specific production goals are before we restructure the schedule. That's step number one.

Step number two is design your ideal block schedule. Some doctors like to start early in the day with a crown. Some like to start later in the day with their crowns. Whatever it is, we need to design it of where do we actually want these to be? And I like high value, follow ups, zero dollar appointments. And instead of just saying a crown, I actually like to build a block schedule based on dollar amounts. Like I said, it's puzzle pieces. So that way if a crown or a quad of fills comes through, I know there are 1500 or a thousand, whatever it is, they're going into this block.

Blocks are held for us for 24 to 48 hours, pending upon your practice to make sure we're able to put the puzzle piece in that we want. We're able to actually map it out and we're able to then tell patients when they're coming up, hey, Dr. Smith likes to do crowns in the morning. I have an eight o'clock or a nine o'clock on Monday or Wednesday, which do you prefer? Now I'm not asking the patient, where do you wanna go? I'm literally asking the patient, this is what we do. This is where I can put you. This is how we do it. What works best for you?

We actually eliminate a lot of the excuses. We eliminate a lot of the frustration and we're directing and guiding the patient rather than trying to come back after they've told us they want a four o'clock when our doctor really doesn't do crowns at four o'clock. This is going to help you exponentially build the blocks. Also, I'm not putting implants and fillings next door to each other because that can get tricky. I'm not doing two crowns back to back where I can't see it. We're literally building a puzzle that our doctors can actually do. All of us get our lunches. All of us get out on time.

Doctors can get over to their hygiene exams. So I'm also then playing Sudoku across the board where I've got my doctor procedures, my new patients and my SRPs. Square up your SRPs and your implants. So that way the doctor can literally get the implant done and not have to go do the hygiene checks. It's a way for us to truly make a puzzle that's 80 to 90 % effective and efficient. So when we do that, that's step two of design our ideal block schedule and build that out. Now, the way I do this is I draft block schedules in Google Sheets.

Kiera Dent (06:58.242)

So in Excel, map it out of what the perfect amount is, put the dollar amounts there of what this is actually going to equate to for the day, and then figure out where my hygiene blocks need to be. I need to also figure out the number of new patients that we're seeing, the number of SRP and the number of perio maintenance blocks that I also need to add into my schedule to make sure I have enough hygiene hours to accommodate the patients that we have in there. So that's in how we're gonna draft this up. So that's gonna be what you'll need to do next is draft a block schedule template for your practice that will actually be effective.

And then step three is to implement it, train our team and track our progress. So what we do is we then go put it into place. I understand that hygiene is usually blocked out six months. And so that does take a little bit longer to get into place, but our doctors can get their blocks put in right away. And we need to train our team, put those blocks in, educate them of what do we do when a patient wants a four o'clock, but we only do crowns at two o'clock. And I want to just remind you that an ideal schedule for our doctor is an amazing schedule for our patients.

us being on time, us being happy as a team, us having our doctor fresh and prepped and ready to go is so much better for these patients than us like trying to shove them in because the reality is patients can adapt the schedule as long as we're using our words, which are free to be able to put our patients where we want them to go. So how do we do this? So we host a team meeting, we explain the block schedules, we assign a point person who's going to oversee and implement, and then we actually help them make sure of...

What happens when we put this in a block when we're not supposed to? What's the follow-up? And I really get offices to work on this for six weeks to two months where we are rock solid on this. And then we come back and we adjust it after that. So when I've done this, there was an office and they were producing about 2 million a year. We put in block schedule, like I said, no extra days, no extra time. So we went from 2 million up to 3.5 million simply by being effective with our time with block schedules. To me, that's a wild growth. We have gone

Exponentially, we've gone from 2 million to 3.5 just by putting these blocks in. were like, Kiera, patients are happier. Our team is happier. We're having our lunches on time. Our doctors are getting out on time. And to me, I just feel if those are the wins, then amazing, this is worth it. So for you getting your team excited about it, helping them see like, understand teams don't like change. Why do you think I love being the Dental A Team where we do this in a fun and effective way? I love to do this because I help teams see what's possible when it feels impossible.

Kiera Dent (09:18.488)

helping them see where we can create ease when there's chaos, helping them see how we can be more efficient rather than cumbersome. So the reality is block scheduling is going to change your life. It's going to help you be effectively productive. It's going to help you hit your goals with ease. One of my favorite quotes is by Walt Disney where he says that he was able to create predictable magic because of the systems behind the scenes. And so for you to be able to create predictable production with the systems behind the scenes of block scheduling to me is a gift that you can give yourself and your team this year.

So what I want you guys to know is this is going to honestly simplify your productivity and give you guys goals to be able to hit them with ease. You don't have to be perfect. We have those snow days. We have the slow summer days. We have the December that's only two weeks. We have all these different things put in so we know exactly what we need our blocks to be. And then we're able to hit our goals with ease and more consistency. I really don't love having success be happenstance where I'm like, will I get it or will I not? I like your success to be inevitable. And I believe that block scheduling is one of the greatest ways to do that.

So if you're interested, DMS or email us for a free block scheduling template, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com And as always, you guys, this is how we're able to help you run a successful dental practice with ease. I don't believe that running a practice should be hard. I believe that this could be easy. And I want you just to ask yourself, what if it could be easy? How would you feel? How would your team feel? How would your patients feel? Because that can be a reality. This is what the Dental A Team does. And if that's helpful for you, reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

Dr. Brian Harris of Smile Virtual gets real and raw with Kiera. The topic: burnout, and how Dr. Harris navigated it to boost himself toward success. He talks about what that meant personally, professionally, as well as tackling the reality of finances and production with a practice partner, and more.

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Transcript:

The Dental A Team (00:00.536)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and I am super pumped to welcome back one of our top guests that's been on the podcast, Dr. Brian Harris. I hope you guys caught his last podcast where we went into all things for Smile Virtual, how we can increase your practice by doing virtual consults. And today he's back to chat, case acceptance, and I'm going to geek out and ask him my own personal selfish questions, but Brian's incredible. Welcome back, Brian. How are you today? Thank you. It is great to be back. I loved the conversation we had last time and I feel like we started to

to get into some really cool topics and then we ran out of time. So this is great. I'm excited to be back for sure. I love someone who can geek dental with me for as long as we were to where we run out of time because we're just so in the thick of it. And so welcome back. I love it. Tell us though, for those who might have missed the last episode, kind of just give them a quick rundown of who you are, how you became the Brian Harris, how you're helping dentists across the nation. I love what you do. I think you do incredible work.

And we even have actually had, this is random. I have friends that have worked for you in Arizona that I just put the connection together last night. I was like, wait, Trista worked for you. And so it's kind of a fun time, but kind of for our audience, if they don't know you, give them a quick intro about you and what you do and how we even got here to then tee up our stage for today. Yeah, that's always scary when you have friends that have worked for somebody or worked for me because then you're like, shoot, they know like, they know the real me. So,

You know, I will I'll give you a background. You know, I feel like I've got, you know, a pretty common story in dentistry, but then also like a pretty interesting one, too. You know, I grew up around it. My dad was a dentist. I've got two brothers that are dentists. My father-in-law is a dentist. I mean, it's it's just kind of always been part of my life. Joined my dad's practice 2005. He was doing a ton of cosmetic dentistry at that time. And so

you know, naturally was able to mentor me and allow me to do a lot myself. And we have a, you know, just a great family cosmetic practice. And we built that into five different locations throughout Arizona. And then probably like 2016 was like the real pivot point for me because I was, you know, we were cruising along, we had the five locations, but I was burning out and

The Dental A Team (02:29.088)

And I kind of was just like, man, I just want to do what I love to do. And I don't necessarily want to be going to all these offices. I don't want to be working the hours that I was working. And so I had an experience with my wife kind of urging me to push and post more on social media and kind of show the world the type of dentistry that I do. And everything just kind of took off from there and started to build a brand and started to

to have patients flying in to see me. because of that, launched a software platform called Smile Virtual. talked about that last time and it's the top tele-industry platform now in our industry. And I still am seeing patients three long days a week and loving what I do with Smile Designs and probably about 70 % of all my patients fly in from out of state to see me in two visits.

That's my story. It's been pretty remarkable and I've been able to take the things that I've learned and I'm just passionate about sharing that with other doctors and helping them do the same in their own practices. I love it. Thank you for sharing that. And it was interesting because my husband and were talking last night. I told him, said, hey, tomorrow's podcast day. I'm really excited. We were chatting about your podcast. And my husband actually asked me an interesting question. He's like, Kiera, I think this would actually be a really good podcast topic. And I said,

I don't know the answer to it. So Brian, maybe you can actually help. Because as you were talking about your story and having the locations, I think there actually becomes this pivotal moment where we're on this path. And so my husband asked me, he said, what's the difference between settling, failing, and living in the moment? And I'm curious if you have any insights on that. I know I didn't prep you up for it, and I didn't even plan to talk about it with you. But I think you kind of hit that level, right? You could have kept growing, and you decided.

Like I'm burnt out, but I think so many of us it's like, well then am I settling and like gonna just scale back? Am I failing because I'm tired or am I like living in the moment or then also pivoting to what I really want? So do you have any insights on that? Like I said, I wasn't planning on it, but I didn't have quite the answers and I think it could be a really interesting combo to kind of kick us off today. Yeah, I love that question. I really love that question and I've never been asked it before. And so that's why when you asked it, I was like, huh.

The Dental A Team (04:50.446)

That's actually really interesting. I think, I think what happens is for me, at least the way I experienced it, it kind of, I experienced all three of those things at the same time. Like I felt like to some degree I was like, well, yeah, we have the five locations. Like I should be happy, know, I need to be successful doing what I love. But then also I kind of felt like I was, you know, so I felt like I was like, well,

am I settling because I don't get to do only the stuff I love? And then it kind of felt like failure because I felt like, you know, I should be happy, but I wasn't. So I kind of felt like I was failing at this game of happiness as a dentist. And then I think the third part of that is like recognizing that like, that's the sweet spot. Like that's where you want to be because I feel like that's where the magic happens when you get to this.

this point of like internal conflict of like, what's really going on here? Like that's like, when you make a move there, you know, if you make the right move, it's always going to be like the move that made a difference. know? It's interesting. And I'm curious, like, how did you reconcile through that? And like, how long does it take? Because I know, like I'm going through a very similar experience and like this summer, I just hit rock bottom and I'm like, but on paper, my life is like popping.

It's the most perfect and like people on the outside looking in are like, here, what are you talking about? My family is like, what are you talking about? But internally you have this guilt, you have this struggle. It's like, I'm so happy with the life I'm living, but I'm also like so stretched, so thin. And I'm also questioning like, am I really on the path that I want to be on? Or am I just on the path that kind of like fell into my lap? And maybe I'm, managing it rather than creating it. So like how long does, and I agree with you, it is the magic sweet spot, but it.

feels like it's the failure sweet spot. feels like it's the rock bottom. feels like it's the the ultimate failure of your life. I'm like, I'm, my life is so good that I'm so miserable. It's such like this like paradox of life. So how did you navigate through it? How long did it take you? Because it doesn't happen overnight. And I think so many people have this like

The Dental A Team (07:01.678)

misbelief that it's like, Brian woke up and was like, I know what I want to do. Versus it's like it takes some time. And maybe you did. Maybe I'm the one who just takes a long time to figure out what I want to do in life. But how was that for you? How did you navigate it? Yeah, I think what happens is, when you've been there a couple times, like to me, I see it now is like, that's just part of the process is part of growth. The first couple times I found myself in situations like that with different

companies that I started or things that I got involved in. It took me months, even years to make a decision. But now it happens all the time where, you know, I'll have this great idea and on paper, like it's like, this makes total sense. And then I start down that path and I'm like, ooh, this is a bad idea. And so now I've gotten really good at like, just, when I recognize that it's not a dead end, it's just a cul-de-sac. You just freaking turn around and go back the other way and,

and do something different. And so I think, I mean, you're going to have listeners, viewers that are at this point where they're like, I don't get it. Like I'm just getting started. don't even, I can't even get patients in the chair. Like I don't have that problem yet, but they will get to that point at some time. And so I think if you're there, then it's like, listen to this conversation, cause it's going to happen sometime. And then you're going to have a lot of people that I feel are there. And, and I think that the important thing is

stop making decisions, just decide. Just decide. If it's what you want to do and you're like, you know what, I'm ready for a change. A mentor of mine pushed me and as I was going back and forth with him of like, I want to do this, but I also only want to see small design cases. But I also don't want to make my dad and brother upset because they think I'm being selfish for not wanting to do hygiene exams anymore. I was going back and forth and he's like, dude, Brian.

He's like, for two days we've been talking, he's like, stop making decisions, just decide, are you gonna do it or not? He's like, if you're gonna do it, then just do it and then go and create it. But if you're not, then stop worrying about it and just get back to what you were doing before. How did you figure out, Brian, that you, that's so lovely, and I love that you brought up family dynamics and guilt and like, I don't want my spouse to think this about me, but it's like, people don't actually think those things. I think a lot of times we project it. And even if they do think that, like,

The Dental A Team (09:25.486)

At the end of day, it's your life and you're creating it and you're living it. How did you decide though? Cause I think there's a piece of you of like, you've got this serial entrepreneur in you. mean, we're going to talk clean products. We're going to talk a lot of the different things you've done. You cosmetic dentist, smile, virtual, clean products. Like you've got this serial entrepreneur within you. So you've got this like massive growth. You're building all these practices, but then you also love cosmetic dentistry. How did you navigate and decide like, what I really have my passion for is this? Because I think some people get like sloshy there and they get gray there. And it's like, it's.

under the surface of I think like layers and layers and layers of guilt or what I should be doing or maybe I don't know but I'm like I feel like people always have that core they do know how did you decide that that was your core and you wanted to do these these smile virtual designs and that's what you really wanted to do. Yeah, I think I think two things happen I think people they realize it's what they want to do but then they don't feel like you know they have these thoughts of doubt of like well

I'm never gonna have enough of those type of patients come in. I think that's a separate conversation. I think the conversation of like the first part that you mentioned of like, do you do that without feeling selfish? Especially within like a family dynamic. I think you just have to be vulnerable and really open and honest and speak to your partners. Speak to those in your life that it's going to affect and come up with a way where it works for everybody. know, it was, and I mean, rightfully so.

It does seem selfish to say like, hey, I am only going to do smile designs. I don't want to do hygiene exams anymore. You know, if I've got a dad and a brother who are my partners that are like, well, that's not fair. know, cool. We don't want to do them either. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it depends. Every practice different sometimes like, that's, that's how you fill your schedule. But other times, like it is a burden. And so being able to go to them and say, okay, here's my thought. If I do this.

I know it's going to increase my personal production, know, and we're partners, you know, all three of us are partners in this. And so in the end, what's going to happen is like, I'm willing to push hard. I'm willing to work hard. And at the time I think I was personally producing, I think my monthly average is about 450,000 a month, just myself, you know, doing smile design cases. And so I was able to show them like, if I do this,

The Dental A Team (11:49.08)

there's gonna be significant amount more money going into practice that we can all share. And the trade off is that I'm not gonna have to do the exams and I'm gonna be able to practice kind of over here separate from the practice, but it's gonna put more stress on you guys, but ultimately we'll all win financially because we're partners. And that's exactly what happened. So. Yeah, no, and I think that's incredible because I also think as society and as doctors and as partners and as people,

I think we often think what's fair is equal. And that's actually not true. Like it doesn't have to be like just because you can produce more doesn't mean that we have to be seeing all the hygiene exams. And I think when we can all step back and say, what's in the betterment of the business, which is ultimately in the betterment of all of us. And then how can we do that? And I know for even like some partnerships, yeah, it does make sense financially for you to do it, but the stress of the hygiene exams is going to be a piece for us.

Well, great, let's find a middle ground. Maybe I take pick up hygiene exams one day out of the week, but I do smile design cases for the rest of the week until we realize like this is really better or like let's bring on an associate that does hygiene exams. Where it's like there's so many different crayons in our crayon box. Like let's not forget that we don't just have black and white. We actually have all the myriad of colors and finding the solution. I think it's important. So thanks for like going down that rabbit hole with me a little bit. I was just so curious. I'm like, it seems like he's got it like pretty much figured out. And I also really loved and I hope people heard like

I think the more we can practice this skill of, like, I remember I was at a conference this summer and the speaker was saying, he's like, why, why did you ever think that you have just one why or one purpose in this life? He's like, why can't you think that you might have multiple purposes and multiple whys throughout your lifetime? And it was just like, aha moment. Cause I was like, find your why. I'm like, what if there's a few whys throughout like the chapters of our life. And so I really loved how it sounds like you've just built that mental resilience of.

try this path and if we get to the end, it's just a cul-de-sac and we redirect and come back rather than it being like, I'm at the bottom, I'm at the ultimate failure. No, we're just like redirecting and figuring out exactly where we're going. And I think like mountain climbs, you look at it, it's not just a straight uphill climb. It's literally like there's dips and ups and dips and ups, but that's actually how we get to the top, not just in one like direct line. So I really, really loved it. Any last thoughts you've got on that before I pivot into case acceptance and clean products?

The Dental A Team (14:06.348)

No, the only other thing that I thought of when when I was talking is just what I don't think it's talked about enough is partnerships and especially family partnerships, but just partnerships in general. I mean, you hear just horror stories of how how things end and and the reality is like working with family or working with partners where you're really close like it's it can be a beautiful thing, but it's it's just like a marriage to like you.

you will have your times where, you know, there's frustration, there's, you know, anger, there may be some tears, you have to be able to just talk through things and hear both sides and come up with a solution that's fair. I think when I see things fall apart, there's all this tension, but nobody's willing to talk about it. And I think that's where problems happen.

So let's dig a little deeper on partnerships because you actually have family partnerships and then you have other business partnerships. What do you find are some of the top things to make partnerships successful? Because there is a phrase that I have heard that I think is very ironic and they say, partnerships sink ships. But then I also hear other people where partnerships can actually exponentially grow the ship as well. So what are some of the things you've done from family partnerships to business partnerships?

that you feel have set that up because I don't think you could do all the things you do without strong partnerships. Maybe you could. I don't know. Maybe you're Superman and I don't know it. But I feel like so much of your success is actually on leveraging and being connected to really great partners. I could be wrong. But what do you find within that partnership world that has helped you be successful in partnerships and not sinking the ships? I think you have to find partners that, you know, are aligned in the same vision. But I also think you

you have to go into it with a strong understanding that it may end. And if it does, how do you both be able to walk away and be at peace with everything? I think the struggle I've found for myself in some partnerships in the past is like for me, and it's just more my personality, like I'm ready to go. Like I'm up at four every day. I leave my house by like,

The Dental A Team (16:27.854)

between 431 and 432, depends on how long it takes me to feed the dogs. And I'm at the office, I've got a little bit of a commute, but I'm there at 510. And then I work until I start seeing patients at seven, and I don't take a lunch, and I work through the end of the day. On Thursdays, I work nonstop on the businesses. But I recognize now, but that's not normal. And it's not necessarily healthy. For most people, it's not.

healthy thing. It's just how I operate best. And I would go into partnerships sometimes expecting that like, we're both going to just be working this hard and growing this thing. And my brother Scott's like a perfect example of this. Like, he is very balanced. And he is like, he's going to go to the gym. And he's going to leave right on time so he could be home be with the family. And it and, you know, so it's it's like for him.

He's not going to waver. He's not going to bend on those things because, you know, those, you know, structure for him and his personality is extremely important. And so it's just understanding those things and then creating things within the partnership around that that just work. So again, communication, but then also don't just go form partnerships to form partnerships. You know, no, I was going to say, I think sometimes you're like, well, I have this idea.

I'll partner with somebody and we'll go and do it. I think you can actually run much faster alone. And then when you get to a point where it's time to bring in like a good strategic partner, you know, then then really think about who that who that person is. So on that, I'm curious, we're going to dig into this. This is so juicy, because people don't talk about it. So Brian, thank you for like tipping into the iceberg with me that I think is so just relevant. What's your take on? Do you go 5050?

And then as a stronger producer, how do you make that to where you as a stronger producer actually don't become resentful to say people who like your brother Scott are leaving on time? Like how do you, because I think that the resentment is the underlying tones. Logically, I can understand that like I'm this type of wiring. My brother's this type of wiring, but how do you not like allow that underlying tension? Do you set it up to where you're paid more as a higher producer? Because I know that there's some partnerships where the producer, I think

The Dental A Team (18:52.27)

I don't know. I'm going to give air quotes. think sometimes being the larger producer sometimes feels like the easier person in the partnership, even though like I've got air quotes around that because the other partner usually is the one picking up the hygiene exams. They're doing the minimal dentistry, but they're benefiting from the higher producer. And the higher producer has all the stress of you've got to freaking produce as well to like carry this ship as well. Like how do you navigate and not get resentment? Should it be 50 50? Should it be broken down on like

how much you're producing so that way you keep your drivers incentivized. Like what are your thoughts around how to set that up? Obviously, this is what's worked for you. People have to figure out what works for them. But any tips that you have on that or insights from all the partnerships you've done? Yeah, I'll just share what's worked for my brother Scott and I and hopefully he's cool with me sharing this. And we need to understand about Scott is like he's

He's an amazing cosmetic dentist. Like his attention to detail is like next level. And that's not saying that mine is not. It's just that, you know, from like a comfort level and speed and like flow, what works for me really works for me. It works for him, really works for him. But yeah, like let's say, let's say in a certain scenario, you know, you get to the end of the month and you're 50, 50 partners, but let's say, you know, I'm just going to use rough numbers just to keep it simple.

Let's say one partner produces $100,000 and the other one produces $200,000 and you're both paid on a percentage of what you do. let's just call it like 35%. Well, what happens is over here, after I get paid my 35%, Scott gets paid his 35%. Like that's fair because we're getting a percentage of what we produce. But a lot of times in this higher percentage area of production, there's more pure profit going to the practice.

Right. so, but technically you split all the profit 50-50. Right. And so what can happen sometimes is you get to a scenario where like you're like, wait, for me to move the needle more and to make more money, I've got to produce significantly more. Right. And so what Scott and I ended up doing is like, we would just say like, hey, this is what it is. We each get paid our 35%. We split whatever comes in, but that we stop.

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like two times a year, once before the summer, once before the end of the year, look at all the numbers and say like, okay, before we do this actual split, let's look at it. Do feel it's fair? You know, are you good with how things are going? He would say his piece, I would say mine. And if we looked at the numbers and it was like, man, I produced quite a bit more the last six months, then we take whatever that money was there to split that month and be like, well, hey, how do you feel about 70 30 or a feel about 60 40? And, and we would do things

that way. And I know that doesn't work for everybody. But I think I think just being open, it's like you have you have the rules of like how the partnership set up. But then you also have the ability to be able to say like, Hey, do we need to adjust a couple times a year? And would this feel more fair just so you don't get to a place where you're resentful? And you said oftentimes, the easier partner is to be the higher producer. Yeah.

I totally agree with that. But then I also feel like sometimes, you know, the the partner doctor, you know, that's not a fun place to be in either, because, you know, they're they're always feeling like, you know, they're always feeling like maybe there could be some resentment there, they're always feeling like, you know, maybe things potentially aren't fair. I mean, it's it's a delicate, it's a delicate situation. But I think you

You treat the business like a business. I guess that's the one thing that I would say is treat it like a business. Try to take the emotion out and say, okay, what's really like the fairest way to do this? And that will resolve a lot of the issues. Yeah. And I think like props to you and Scott. Scott, I know you're not on this, but thank you. Like, hopefully you listen to this. I also think that there's different value systems, right? Like hearing just you and Scott, I don't know Scott, I'm not interviewing Scott, I'm not podcasting with him. But to me, sounds like Scott's big thing is like his balance of his life.

Like he wants to be with the kids. He wants to work out. He wants to have like, loves doing dentistry. but like that to me is what I would think if I was looking at a value chart, that would be it. And Brian, not to say that your family is not important. Brian's family. That's not what we're saying here. Okay. We're just saying Brian's wired to your, a race horse. You want to go, you want to drive like that keeps you so inspired. And when you're fulfilled that way, you actually show up better for your family. You show up better for yourself. I can relate to that because I'm very much wired that way. And I always feel like a little bit of a jerk, like

The Dental A Team (23:39.32)

Jay, I promise I love you. But it's like there's two different value systems running too. And so I think when partners can realize that, like, don't chop off Brian as this racehorse who wants to produce and wants to be there early and wants to go at 4.30 in the morning. Don't cut that to make the partnership fair. Like let Brian be himself, let Scott be himself. And then like you said, I do think the evaluation throughout the year is smart because a racehorse like yourself, Brian,

Like it is fun on the production. is fun to like hit the numbers. fun to see what you can produce. It's fun to challenge yourself. Like that's, think probably like growth and that drive for you. And so reward that person, give them like extra production, like rock on, keep running, keep doing it. And I'm going to keep my awesome balanced life over here. And I can see that. But I also think like kudos to Scott. I think that takes a lot of humility on his part too, to see that, because I think so many partners potentially on Scott's side can actually feel like less than.

and ego can creep in and say, well, no, I'm doing all these other things. We're fair. We're equal. So like, what do do when that creeps in of ego? Maybe Scott's just like an amazing human. I'm sure there's been times though. How do you guys navigate that conversation, Brian, because I've heard it in so many partnerships that I can't imagine you guys are immune to it forever. Maybe it was just earlier on too. Yeah, I think part of it is

You know, I remember we, I run a mastermind and a group of doctors that I started about six years ago and it's called the Elite Academy. And when we meet together, we'll share numbers, we'll share production numbers. I think...

Scott had always felt a certain way about it until we're in this room and everyone's sharing their numbers. And he's like, wait, I actually am a super high producer. He's like, wait, I'm producing $180,000 a month just himself. And yet maybe in our partnership, it can feel a certain way just because of how I work or how I do things. But the reality is he's super successful.

The Dental A Team (25:50.382)

cosmetic dentist and and is producing a really high level. So I think it's it's important to understand that like you got to step out of it sometimes and look at like the big picture and be like, okay, maybe this isn't what it seems like. But then also like, you know, it does happen sometimes where you have a partner that's just just cool cruising kind of at the bare minimum and and and I think you have to respect that you either change the partnership you get out of it or

Like you respect that and you come up with a better solution that's going to to work for that partnership. have, I have a close friend that got stuck in one of the situations where he was kind of essentially feeding the other two partners and they were on cruise control. It started to create a lot of resentment because he's wanting to run fast over here. They're like, Hey, we're comfortable here. Part of the reason they're comfortable is because all this productions, you know,

going to them and paying the bills. And so that that's a type of situation where he struggled forever to get out of that and finally went to him and said like, Hey, I think it's time that we dissolve the partnership. And at the end of the day, I think they feel like it's the best move to they don't want to be living in that kind of stress either. So just communication, just talk about it. And I think like that feels scary. It feels scary to have those conversations. It feels scary to say that I had a very similar I remember working with a partnership and

the doctor that was a high producer was so frustrated because the other doctor was just not even like, not even trying to support, not looking for ways, like super comfortable. Like I got this great producer, keep producing for me. I'm gonna sit over here and have my great life. But there, built up so much resentment between the two that it was irreparable. And so really, like you said, I think having those conversations and when things frustrate you from the get go or like, I think we think we're being the bigger person, I think it's cool.

just let it like roll over. But I'm like, when you let it roll over so often, I see it with so many partnerships, I see it in marriages of doctors that are married and they're working in the practices and I'm sure you do too. It's, I think it's we work on it when it's like a tiny sliver rather than when it's a massive boulder between the two. Because then you can't fix it. But like a little sliver, we can like pluck that out and we can take care of it we can repair that and we can move on. But so many times I think it's we gloss over, we don't work on it, we don't talk about it.

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and talking about it in a way where we actually come to a resolution, not a caving or giving in that then later builds resentment. So kudos to you guys, Brian. think great job, Scott. Great job, Brian. And I love what you said, Brian. And I'm the same way I always say, plan the divorce before you get married. How will we split this so that way all parties know? I think education on that is very powerful to know how we're going to end this if we ever end it. And then we write it and we do it until it no longer serves, but also.

Seeing the value that other partners bring, even if you're the high producer, think like kudos to you Brian on that. I think that that's a really magical thing because they do a lot of work that you're not doing. Like you're not doing hygiene exams. so seeing that that value, even though it's not dollar per dollar production, it does allow you to produce exponentially more. And without that, now you'd probably be okay. You probably don't need it as much, but to get you to where you are, they had to pave the way for you as well too. I think that there's, gosh, like you're right. There's just so many dynamics on it. So kudos to

But it's also a beautiful thing too. mean, if you look at, I mean, I've been married 24 years now. And if you look at, if you look at like relationships and partnerships, like you, you, you, least in my own relationship, I start to see like for, for so long, it was like, man, I wish she could be like this, or she would think, wish she could be more like this. And then you start to realize like, Hey, part of what makes this work is that we are very different. And part of what makes it work is like, you know,

we have different things to bring to the relationship. I think partnerships, it's the same thing, but sometimes we look at it as like, well, no, I'm doing this, they should be doing this too. Could you imagine what a marriage would be like if you were the younger or if you were the lower producer and you just felt like every day, your spouse was looking down on you and all the things that you're not doing right and how you need to be better and how you need to show more love. mean, it would just feel

it would feel super empty, but that's it's the same type of feelings, you know, and so it's being able to be like, okay, wait, okay, here's our here's our each of our strengths, like, let's play off these and let's create a great relationship. So yeah, no, and I'm so glad you brought that up. Because I remember for a long time, my husband is just such a fun human. And he like his his phrase lately has been like, gosh, like, why is life so good? And he's just like, obsessed with living in the moment and obsessed with being so happy. And I he reminds me

The Dental A Team (30:46.488)

to stop and smell the freaking roses of like this beautiful rose garden we've built rather than be like, rose garden done. We now need a forest. Like he's so good at reminding me of that. And for probably like the first five years of marriage, we've just hit our 13 years, so not the 24. But I remember like at year five, six, I thought, gosh, like I probably should have married someone different. Like I probably should have married someone who's a stronger driver with me. Someone who like challenges me harder. Neither is wild epiphany of

man, if I would have married that person, I don't think I could have blossomed to the level that I did because I would have been competing with someone. I wouldn't have had someone who's there like supporting me day in day out. Jason will wake up early with me in the morning. I'm sure you do it too, Brian. Like we just rattle off all of our brilliant ideas. Our poor spouses like love them because we just like hit them with all these great ideas and they just sit there and they love us and they encourage us and they inspire us. And I just thought there is so much beauty in who Jason is.

being complimentary to me rather than being the same as me. And it took a long time for me to realize that compliments actually so beautiful. And that's what makes the masterpiece rather than being the exact same color. And I think that it's well said. And with partnerships, just think like it takes humility and it takes like effort and it takes intentionality on partnerships to see what they're doing right rather than focusing on what's wrong, because what they're doing right and good and great is as available as what they're not doing and what they're failing at.

Both are available to us every single day. It's just which one are we choosing to look at more? And that's what creates our vision from my perspective. Yeah. For those just joining, welcome to the successful marriage podcast. We're here today. We'll dive into all things relationships. it's, it's, listen, it's beautiful. And, and I think some of it just comes with time and maturity and realizing like, I think the more time has gone on,

the more I realized like a lot of times like, and maybe I am the problem in both professional and personal relationships. And when you start to realize like, okay, you're way more in control than you think you are. So no, that was good. I'm glad we went into all that. I think it's important. You and me both. And I know we had come into the podcast thinking we were going to talk about something and the reality is we went in different route, but that's how podcasts work. so

The Dental A Team (33:07.756)

And I'm glad we did because I do agree with you. Partnerships are not discussed a lot. And I think people jump into partnerships and they're so excited about them. And I think you and I have a lot of years of experience personally. I've been in several partnerships myself in business and I've been burned a lot. I've had some very great successes a lot. I think you probably can relate. But the reality is I think so much success can come from partnerships. So just to clarify, do you believe in 50-50 partnerships? So pretend you're a solo doctor. You don't have family.

Are you a 50-50 proponent? Are you like a 30-70 proponent? Are you a small in this practice? And then we go 50-50 in the next practice. What's kind of your like, your flavors on partnerships just as a general consensus, which I understand will asterisked across. Every marriage looks different. Every relationship looks different. Every partnership looks different. There's different reasons for different pieces. But if you're an owner doctor, because I think so many owner doctors, Brian, you hear this, I hear this. I built this freaking practice and now just going to give away 50%.

and the newer doctors like, yeah, I'm not going to be like less than you. So like, how do you navigate that? What are your thoughts on that? Since we've decided to elect to partnerships today, partnerships and marriages, whatever we want to talk about. No, it's great. Let's do it. When, when I first bought into my dad's practice, we sat down with a consultant and the way they looked at it, they're like, Hey, if we're going to do this, we have it valued. And whatever that top value is, Brian, like that's what you're going to pay into the partnership.

Like you will be 50-50 partner, but you're going to buy in what the practice is worth now. And I think that's absolutely how it should be handled. I think you treat it like a business. When my dad retired a couple of years ago. So then at that point, then when it was time for Scott to buy in, we had the practice evaluated at top dollar and then Scott bought in one third of that. How long has Scott been working? Just as clarity. Cause a lot of doctors get angry with this too, cause they feel like they've worked. They've

added to the value of the practice and they don't want to buy their equity that they've done. So Scott's been out of school two years less than I have. So he graduated in 2007, but he had his own practice. One of the five offices was his and then he bought in. We ended up selling off the four offices, kept our flagship office. He bought in as one third partner on that. So he was partners on the rest. But as far as our main practice in Phoenix, he bought in and paid

The Dental A Team (35:33.486)

what one third was worth. And then when my dad retired, like we both came in and we bought out my dad's one third for what it was worth. Now at the time, you could say like, I mean, it was like eight and a half million dollar practice. And so you could say of that, probably 45 % of that on an annual basis was maybe 40 % was coming just from my production. So like I could have

And I'm not going to lie. I started to go there. I started to be like, wait, I'm to pay top dollar. But essentially what I'm paying for is what I've. Yes. What I myself. Yeah. And like what I've been building. Yeah. And so it's like, well, yeah, over the last several years, like, you know, I've been producing, you know, three, $4 million a year myself for last several years. So that's why now we're at this place where the practice is worth eight and a half. Exactly. And, and so it's like, well, is it fair that I then go in and pay?

top dollar, even though a lot of that's coming from me. And I think the answer to that is absolutely it's fair. It's fair because, you know, my dad started in 79, you know, and we bought in along the way. And the fair thing to do is like treat it like a business. And and then there's then there's no regrets. And so, you know, it can seem it can seem unfair from the owner or the senior doctor standpoint.

But the last thing you want is a partner that's not motivated or that's resentful. I think it's okay to acknowledge those things, to say like, hey, here's what I'm feeling and here's why. And here's what I spent a lot of time building. And I just need you to know that so you know like what I'm going through and maybe this isn't, it's not easy for me. But then the last thing I'll say is the consultant back in 2008 when I first bought into the practice is like, at the end of the day, both of you should feel like you're getting screwed.

And he's like, that's, you know, like you've got a good deal. And that's exactly what happened. I felt like I was paying more than I should have for my half of my dad's practice. And my dad was like, well, I got screwed. Like I should have got more. And, and that's where we knew we were like at a good place. Yeah. No, that's actually really good because I hear so many doctors say this, where I even have a partnership right now that we're working through and the, the doctor buying in, they have actually two locations and the doctor buying in right now, like,

The Dental A Team (37:58.365)

doesn't like it's really hard for them to see for the second location to pay for it in two years after they've been working for it. And so I'm actually really happy to hear from you because I don't know what that feels like. I can buy in as a consultant. I can buy in as a team member. I can buy in on all those different levels. I can help close the cases. I can help grow the practice. Like the systems we bring in are exponentially high, but I'm not a producer. And I think the producer piece is the hard piece because you're like, I literally have grown this and now I'm going to buy into that. How did you work through that Brian? Because

so many doctors think it's more fair of like, no, no, no, let's get evaluation today. And then in two years, I'll pay for it, or whatnot, or like we take out my production. But like, how did you and your dad reconcile that? Because I look at it, I'm like, yeah, but your dad had a practice and without your dad, you would never have had this opportunity to do it. You can argue with me and say, I could have gone and done on my own. And I always say, then go do it. You're clearly buying in for this. How did you reconcile that? Because I think your space is actually a really hard space to come to.

when you're actually buying your own production in that practice, because you are, that's what the true fair value of that business is.

Yeah, so we've actually kind of technically done it both ways. So the first time when I bought in, it was like, okay, this is something we're to want to do, but to do it right and to get financing in place, let's scale up. And this is going to happen. You know, we'll sign documents in like six months. But what we're going to do is we're going to value the practice now. And, know, so that Dr. Harris, you're motivated to, you know,

Dr. Brian Harris, you're motivated to grow and still build this practice, but you're going to pay for what the fees are now. And every month, we're going to set aside some of that cash instead of paying you on a percentage of production. So let's say you're getting paid 35%, then you'd say, for the next six months, you're actually going to get paid 40%, but 5 % of that will be held back and we'll go towards paying you part of the practice.

The Dental A Team (40:01.085)

I think there's ways that you can do it to where the doctor buying in, especially if it's like, this is going to be in two years. You can do a hold back on profits and say, yes, let's do it in two years. Let's value it then. But instead of 35%, let's pay you 40%. You're only going to take 35, but we're going to put 5 % over here. And that's going to grow. And that can be used as your down payment. So it's essentially like the doctor's not.

just working their butt off for nothing. They're working towards buying the practice and that extra money is going towards that purchase price. Yeah. And I think you have a really good long vision game. You knew this is where you wanted to be. You knew it was a great place for you. It was with your family. It was something long term. I think you buying in, you had to have a longer term vision for it of seeing, yesterday, like you said, I agree. I had a mentor this summer tell me, they're like,

you should always feel like you're being screwed. Both parties need to feel like they're being screwed and it's the perfect deal. Cause if one party feels like they walked out of there like high on the cloud, then it's not the right deal. and like go back to the drawing board until you both feel that way. So I think though kudos to you to have that long-term vision. because I think a lot of people can't see that and it's like, no, no, no, it's so good. Like it might sting today, but just think about it eight years down the line. I mean, what you bought it in 2008 and now we're 2024.

That's a pretty long-term vision. Your dad's not in the practice. sounds like your brother's there now. And you guys are now building this to where is today. That's incredible. And Dental A Team listeners, I cannot wait for you to hear Brian and I finish this conversation. Today we talked about partnerships and all the different pieces. And tomorrow we are actually going to cover how to have a successful practice.

after you buy in. So get ready, I cannot wait for you guys. We broke this one up into two parts because I think it's that important for you. And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.

 News flash: Setting goals for yourself isn’t selfish! In fact, Kiera encourages you to set personal, then professional goals. In this episode, she talks about why it’s important to think about yourself a bit more, why taking personal time helps you AND your team, and the best way to actually set those goals.

Say the things you want to have; be clear about the life you want.

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Guess WHAT!? It’s Mark Costes’s birthday today! Happy birthday, Mark!... Continue Reading...

The popular office autopsy is back! In this episode, Kiera talks about a practice that worked with DAT to implement PRF (platelet-rich fibrin) into its toolbox. Not only did the therapy service massively increase this office’s production, but the team stayed consistent and focused for a majority of 2023 to make sure the information and procedure was the best it could be for patients. 

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Reach out to Kiera: hello@thedentalateam.com 

Practice Momentum Group Consulting

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Getting promoted to a leadership role isn’t all rainbows and sunshine. There’s a lot of hard work that goes into the transition, and in this episode, Kiera talks with Amy Ells...Continue Reading...

Want to know the secret to wowing your patients? Kiera shares it in THIS episode. Some spoilers to ask yourself:

1. What experience do you want your patients to have when they enter your practice? Fun? Relaxing? Modern?

2. What companies have the type of experience you want your patients to have? The Dental A-Team’s model companies are, for example, Disneyland, Amazon, Apple, and Google.

3. What would mimicking those companies’ experiences feel like in your practice?

4. How can you ensure that every team member provides the same experience?

Once these questions are answered, you can roll your practice’s vibe into your social media and other marketing efforts.

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In this office autopsy episode, Kiera shares an example of a doctor who’s hungry to evolve. After approaching the Dental A-Team with the hope to be a more confident business owner, Kiera and the doctor reviewed the practice’s systems with a fine-toothed comb. Improvements to the practice were made by establishing core values, building a more positive team mindset, running effective meetings, overhauling the schedule, and more. 

Episode resources:

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Transcript:

Kiera Dent (00:00.974)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and I felt like it was time for an office autopsy. It's been a hot minute since I've done an office autopsy and I thought, hey, let's do it. So if you're new to the podcast, welcome. An office autopsy is where I peel back the covers of what we've done on a practice and kind of give you a almost like a case study of a practice. So I hope you guys are ready for it. I hope you love the podcast. I hope you love dentistry and I hope you love you as a person.

Today's the day for you just to be a little kinder, give yourself a compliment that might feel awkward, but say, Kiera, you truly are incredible at doing the podcast and genuinely mean it because the kinder we are to ourselves, the more we're able to give to other people. So if you have loved this podcast, please do me a favor and go share it with somebody today. Share this with somebody, put it in a Facebook group, put it on social media, tag us on LinkedIn, whatever you need to do. Because my goal is to get this podcast into the hands of every single dental practice, because I believe that's my way of helping you become a more

profitable practice, but also a happier place to work for your team and for your patients. All right, with that, let's office autopsy. So this is going to be kind of a fun one because this is a practice that I've worked with for a few years. I really love this doctor. And just so you guys know, when I office autopsy, I will change a detail here or there, still staying true to the facts, just so that way you can't completely figure out which exact office I'm talking about. So just so you know, this office is incredible.

The doctor reached out to me because they wanted to be a more confident business owner. And they just felt like they weren't as confident running the business, even though they knew the numbers, even though that they had been in practice for several years, but just really wanted to be a more confident business owner. And so what's really awesome is this doctor was actually doing a lot better than they gave themselves credit for. And I love that because so often we think that we're missing out on pieces, but we're actually doing a lot of things really, really well. And so just...

reminding you guys that you're probably doing better than you think you are but kudos to this doctor because they really wanted to be more confident. They wanted to know the numbers better, they wanted to run the team better, they wanted to be able to have those uncomfortable conversations with the team more and so that's what we worked on. And so in the course of time this office started out as an in -person practice and then they moved to a virtual office with me for consulting and so just know we get results in person and virtually really really well but we started out

Kiera Dent (02:22.99)

helping this practice get some really good perspective of mindset because I noticed that they were kind of negative. There was a lot of negativity. And so I taught them how to look through different filters and what are we saying? And it was crazy to start to watch this practice morph into more positivity, into seeing how things could be done. And what we ended up doing, the doctor started looking at their numbers, put into place a KPI scorecard so that way tracking the numbers every single week, every single month, reviewing the numbers, looking for the trends over the years.

taught this office we put into place core values for them and it's amazing because now they hire for core values and culture. They have their core values that the team has built. They made bracelets for the team of the core values and just kind of made it like really fun for these core values. And the doctor said I made these years ago but they didn't mean anything and so we really broke it back down and when we were building those core values for this office I asked the doctor if you were hiring somebody today to come to your office what would you want them to do? Like what would be the attributes you want them to have and what was amazing is we

put it out there and the core values just shifted and I think modernized into what the practice is today. And so it was really fun to watch this practice really just morph into this incredible space and then hire, getting more confident on hiring and onboarding. We helped them create an operations manual so systems were no longer an issue. And then I think the most fun thing that we did with this practice was this office, like I said, they wanted to be a more confident leader and so.

We set into place how to run effective meetings together. We put into place, like having agendas and what do we talk about and how do we look at our systems every single month to really dive into the pieces? How do we take numbers to the team and get the team bought in and excited about it? How do we get them all owning their positions and building an org chart for them? And then what we did was this office, I started looking at their production and I looked at how ragged the team was and I looked at the schedule and what was so cool.

is as a team, we're able to, like, I heard their issues and I talked to the team and I asked them, you know, what do you guys want? What are you needing? And it was always a schedule, like getting out on time and the schedule and the schedule and the schedule. And so what we did as a team is we actually revamped the entire schedule. So I looked at the production, I looked at the output, we made a block schedule. And what we did is we were able to flip and have procedures where they made a lot more sense. And then I taught the team how to actually guide patients to those blocks.

Kiera Dent (04:43.31)

And it was, I'm like, I'm talking a whole schedule overhaul. So we were doing certain procedures only in the morning, certain procedures only in the afternoon. Teams started getting out on time. We were able to maximize all the team members way more efficiently. The doctors weren't as exhausted in the practice. Their production went up exponentially, but the stress level went down. And it was this whole rollout. Like I did this over the month of like, here's month one, here's month two, here's month three. Like this is what we're going to do. This is what each person's going to do.

And to watch that team who had kind of started out as a little bit sour, we'll say, really embrace and take on. And now the doctor is able to look at the schedule and figure out and optimize as they bring in a doctor or if they lose a doctor, how can they optimize this schedule? Because they know now how to build a schedule and what we looked for. We're looking for productivity. We're looking for how many appointments we needed to have. We looked at what an ideal schedule would be. What time did that doctor want to be out? What time was that doctor the best at doing certain procedures?

train the team how to do it and then put these blocks into play and they're able to actually see more patients because they were feeling like they were maxed on space and they wanted to actually expand the practice but didn't know how to expand the practice. And we were able to add in a ton more patients to the practice without even needing to expand it and add more operatories. So just better utilizing the schedule. So, you know, all these things are fun. We were able to grow the practice exponentially. We were able to get the operations manual done, run these leadership meetings, build the core values, build an org chart.

But then the doctor said, okay, I want to start rolling out a bonus. And I think this was one of the coolest things that we did because so many people want to roll bonuses, but they don't know why. And they don't know the numbers and I'm very anti bonuses for the bulk of it. But what I did, because you know, you guys will hear how to roll bonuses and oftentimes it's like the poker chip one, which I actually love that bonus where, when we hit goal, people grab a poker chip out of the bag and it's worth X amount of dollars. And either that person gets it or the whole team gets it.

But I've also watched offices get into a lot of hot water with revenue when they do this poker chip bonus. I've seen other people pay a percentage of collections, but that oftentimes is really hard for practices because if we don't hit it or is everybody working together? And then there's bonuses on hygienists and if they're hitting production and why did hygienists get a bonus, but the team doesn't get a bonus. And so I think my favorite thing I did with this office was I helped the doctor look at the bonus structure and to see...

Kiera Dent (07:08.91)

let's figure out our worst case scenario. So let's use the numbers and the metrics before we just haphazardly roll a bonus. Let's figure out one, why do you want to roll the bonus? Two, let's look at the numbers and use it. And three, let's make sure that we're not going to get you into hot water in a worst case scenario. So I remember on one of our calls, we actually sat there and we did, let's, let's go with the poker chip one. So let's say, cause she was like, I was thinking it would be, I don't know, like $10 for this, $15 for this, $20 for this. And then $50 would be the highest one. And I said, well,

Let's do a hypothetical. What if they got the $50 every single day that we hit goal? How much would you be paying out in a bonus? And is that something that we actually want to do? Then we ran all the numbers of like, how many days are they going to hit bonus? And let's go back to last month and see rolling this out. How many days would they actually have hit their bonus? And what would that be financially for you? And I remember the doctor after we did the call,

They said to me, Kiera, I'm so grateful you did this with me because I would have been paying way more money than I needed to. That was unnecessary because once we figured out, like, let's just say even if it's a $50 bonus a month, what we did is we actually broke that down to see what their hourly would be. And it was a huge uptick for a lot of them of what they would be making daily or hourly.

just with a $50 bonus. And sometimes we think we need to go for these hundred or 200 or 300 or $400 bonuses or our team will be grateful. Number one, they should always be grateful if it's a bonus and you're doing above and beyond what like our contract is binding between the two of us. But secondly, I think this doctor was about to roll out so much more revenue than she needed to, or he needed to, you'll never know, is it a boy or a girl, but more than they would have needed to because we actually worked through

all the pieces. And then the doctor, once we got done with this bonus system, they actually went through and they said, I feel so confident rolling this out. The team got excited. The team started hitting it. We also knew that we had run it for three months. And then after that, we're going to assess our goals and we're going to reassess and we're going to set new goals because if we're hitting it consistently, it's no longer a stretch goal and we need to raise that goal. And so we just set the expectations with the team. The team loved it. They're able to have a good time with it, but we ran.

Kiera Dent (09:22.158)

all these different scenarios, but the doctor came to me wanting to know how to look at the numbers. And I said, this is how you use your numbers to look at a practice. This is how we look to see, can we hire a new person? Well, what are we producing? What have we been producing? Bring this new person in. Can we afford it? What is our overhead? What's the cost? Then when it's like, I want to do raises, we then go through and we figure out, all right, if we were to give raises to all these people, this is what the impact would be. This is what we'd need to produce. This is what we'd need to change our daily goal to.

and then yes, it works. Other times you look at it and say, okay, could we actually for hygienists, like maybe I don't want to be paying that amount. Could I pay this amount, which is pretty much within market value, but then I add a bonus structure on top of it. But before we even roll that bonus, we actually go back through and we run the numbers to see what would their bonus be? And is this actually going to be something that this office, this is going to incentivize the hygienist or is it just a hope and a wish they're probably never going to hit?

because so often with bonuses, the problem I see is that offices rolled them out and it's either a ton of money for the office and they weren't expecting it and then they have to take it away because they couldn't afford it or two, the team can never hit it and they actually get disincentivized by it. And so for this doctor to use the numbers to know, can I hire? Can I not hire? What does this bonus system look like? How can I feel confident in it? And then start looking and going deeper. Let's look at our PNL every single month. Let's look at our supplies every single month. Let's look to see.

What are we paying? And so we went through is really awesome. We went through her PNL or his PNL. And we started looking to see, all right, what are we paying for supplies? What are we paying for labs? We put it together. We're every single month tracking this overhead to see where we are with our supplies, our labs, what is running through the practice that is this doctor's actual income, even though it's going through as a tax deduction. Totally fine to do.

But we often forget and we think that we're not making as much, but the reality is we're actually making more. It's just running through the practice and we forget that that's actually income to the doctor. So as the doctor saw that they're able to see that they're actually making more than they thought they were able to see the profitability margins. We're able to see where we could cut down and shave off. We got them connected to some partners to have a buying group through synergy. So if you guys are looking for that, be sure to tell them Dental A Team sent you, but able to get the supplies reduced down, looked at the labs, looked at the.

Kiera Dent (11:40.462)

the cost. And then what was crazy is the doctor looked and they lost a team member and they said, Kiera, I don't think I need to rehire this person because I've looked and I think I could actually have a lower payroll cost, better production increase, and be able to hire this person as opposed to a different candidate that's going to give me everything I want and more and also benefit the practice even better. But they use the numbers to be able to make those decisions confidently and the

Crazy thing is like, I'll never as a consultant be able to teach in office every single scenario to look at. Like, that's not my job. My job is to teach clients how to use their numbers, how to look at their P &L, how to train and guide their team to look at it as well, to make educated decisions, to feel confident moving forward. And this doctor really is just impressive to me because they're hungry to grow. They want to keep evolving.

And sometimes we come to the meetings and it's just like, I don't even know what we're going to talk about. And so it's like, well, let's dig into the PNL. Let's dig into our systems. Let's look to see where we at, because oftentimes when problems aren't happening in the practice, that's actually where we get to create and dig and optimize as opposed to just being a firefighter with problems. And so watching this talk go from almost firefighting of problems with culture to owning unapologetically their role as a leader.

delegating out to figuring out their billing to tracking the KPIs to rolling out a bonus confidently. This doctor can walk with their head held high of I actually know how to run my business. I know how to bring on an associate and look to see what amount should I be paying that associate that's so profitable for me. I know how to look at the numbers to see what am I truly making versus what I thought I was making and see how the numbers do work out.

to look to see how can we reduce the overhead or increase the production, how to change a schedule to make a schedule work for me that's so profitable. This doctor lost their associate and had to work for several months by themselves. And we watched year over year with the new schedule and they actually didn't lose any production. They lost a full doctor, but because we'd made this productive schedule that was manageable for one doctor to do, we're actually able to make the numbers work. We were able to hire another associate and kudos to them for that.

Kiera Dent (13:52.334)

but just looking at this doctor of what they came to me for, but I think the greatest transformation of this, like, yes, we've got the cool stats. We've got the increased production. We lost an associate. We brought in an associate. We rolled out a bonus. We have a team that's bought in. We figured out how we could change team members around. We have an office manual. We've got a billing system. We've got KPIs that we're tracking. The doctor knows how to look at these items and be confident in it. But I think the greatest transformation of all was the fact that this doctor...

feels confident running their business, that they're proud of the business that they've built, that they enjoy working there, and that with me being there or not, this doctor is able to make educated decisions and feel confident in it. And I've watched this doctor, they ride the waves, right? The ups and the downs of the business and how it's going to be. But the fact is they're confident. The fact is they know how to make the decisions, whether I'm there or not. And to me, that's the greatest gift I could ever give an office is for them to know with confidence,

what's going to sink their business and what's going to grow their business, that they can look at the numbers, that they can grow their team, that they can have the uncomfortable conversations, that they figured out how to build a new vision and core values after being in business for years to almost reinvent the practice and re -energize the practice as well. It's just really fun. And so I love these stats. I love these numbers. I love the things that we're able to do for this practice. And I just, I enjoy giving people the freedom that they're looking for.

This isn't the same. Like what I did for this practice is not what I would do for another practice, but this is what this practice needed. And this is what they want. And for them to feel confident is the greatest gift I could ever give anybody. Yes, the numbers are fun. The confidence piece is what's going to drive those numbers though. Being a confident business owner that knows their numbers forward and backward, to have a team bought into it, to be able to have those conversations with team members is the greatest gift I could ever give any practice. So that's the office autopsy today. If we can ever help you.

with your practice or you're in those things of what I do for a bonus and I don't know how to look at the numbers and I don't know how to get get team bought in and I might have a little bit of a sour patch team right now that's not as excited about things. Watching this office transform is why I love to share an office autopsy. So with that, if we can help you reach out, Hello @ TheDentalATeam .com, it does not have to be hard to run a successful practice and that's what I'm all about. So come reach out, let's help you be the next office autopsy. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on The Dental A Team podcast.

CPA Morgan Hamon returns to the Dental A-Team podcast. In this episode, he and Kiera dive deep on smart steps for dental practices to take financially, including…

• What businesses should expect from a CPA

• How to prepare for tax day

• Tax strategies for dentists

• What practices should be doing now, in the middle of the year

• And more

About Morgan: Morgan is a graduate of the University of Arizona school of business. Following graduation, he was commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy and served for over ten years as a Naval Aviator flying carrier-based F/A-18 Hornets. During that time, he deployed to the Persian Gulf and flew combat missions over Iraq in support of Operation Southern Watch. He also served as a flight instructor and landing signal officer for newly winged Naval Aviators transitioning to the Hornet, training pilots in air-to-air combat and landing on aircraft carriers.

After leaving the Navy, Morgan obtained a master’s degree in accounting with a concentration in taxation from Metropolitan State University of Denver. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and is the co-founder and President of HDA Accounting Group leading a large staff of professional accountants delivering a variety of financial accounting and tax services. Morgan regularly conducts practice profitability advising for dentists, helping them analyze their financial data and identifying strategies for profit improvement.

Episode resources:

Learn more about HDA Accounting Group

Connect with Morgan: morgan@hdagroupdental.com 

Listen to episode 430, Your Practice’s Most Important Numbers to Know

Reach out to Kiera: hello@thedentalateam.com 

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Review the podcast

Kiera welcomes Paige Benjamin back to discuss perio patients and appointments. Paige emphasizes the need for probing every appointment as well as updating the perio chart.

Many dental practices are toeing the line of success and struggle these days. Because the Dental A-Team is visiting so many practices, the consultants are seeing a theme emerge of what sets these two groups apart. Kiera shares those common threads:

The offices doing well have …

• Strong leaders and consistent execution

• A solid vision and knowledge of numbers

• Regular meetings to show alignment

Those struggling tend to …

• Try and do everything, all the roles are switched

• Not have a strong leader who’s willing to fix culture

• Be more concerned about the dollar rather than investment

Make sure you are assessing your business to know where you stand and what your practice’s longevity looks like.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera 

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Review the podcast

It’s been a minute since Ashley Keith was on the podcast, but boy are we glad she’s back! Ashley wears many, many hats as chief operating officer for Keith + Associates Dentistry, and she shares pearls of wisdom today on the following topics:

• Creating new efficiencies in your practice

• Changing energy and how to do it

• Juggling the ideas of a visionary dentist

This episode will have you fired up to prioritize projects that’ll move your practice forward in the best way possible.

Episode resources:

Listen to episode 265: How to Solve Problems FOREVER

Listen to episode 162: Dental Assistant Mix-Up

Reach out to Kiera

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Review the podcast on iTunes

Paul Moore — founder, CEO, and fund manager of Wellings — is back on the podcast to talk with Kiera about the reality of what the COVID-19-influenced recession is looking like, and how YOU can invest to help both yourself and others...Continue Reading...

Quarterly meetings are one of Kiera’s favorite things! In this quick episode, she shares an exercise she did with the elite Mastermind group of the Dental Success Institute....Continue Reading...

Figuring out how to drink from the firehouse of the new year can be overwhelming. Tiff and Britt give suggestions on where to start your journey to improving your practice’s growth, or perfecting your scheduling, or addressing high cancellations — or whatever your goal is in 2025.

Episode resources:

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Join Dental A-Team Consulting

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Transcript:

The Dental A Team (00:00.983)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. I am so excited to be here with you today. I have pulled in the one and only Britt. We still need a really strong nickname for you, Britt, but I'm just excited to be here with you today. And I love Britt. People call me Tiff. I love Britt. I feel like it's just like rolls off the tongue. So we'll just, we'll stick with that for now, but we're here in the new year. I'm excited to have these conversations. I've pulled you for a few podcasts today and I just think that you are going to be so stellar.

at the content that we're gonna talk about. And doctors, I hope you're here to freaking learn. Britt, one of her nicknames is No BS Britt. So welcome to that. And I say that today because we're gonna be just talking a lot of business in a lot of the podcasts that we're recording today, but especially this one and some planning for the year. We're in 2025 now. So I wanna make sure you guys are just totally prepped and planned for it. So Britt, how are you on this fine, beautiful morning in Arizona today?

Britt (00:56.718)

mean I'm great. It's a sunny day every day pretty much here. So you got to love it. I love that. I'm like, I mean, there's a few nicknames out there, but I don't like spiffy Tiffy is such a good one that like, I don't know if the rest of us will get one that's like that same level, which is deserved. But yeah, so I've got a few but nothing quite like spiffy Tiffy.

The Dental A Team (01:09.455)

I know.

The Dental A Team (01:17.303)

I know, you had to come in early, you know? The nickname game started earlier than everyone else got here. That must be what it is, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. think things just, my grandma called me Tiffy my whole life growing up. I was Tiffy. And so I think things just rhyme with Tiffy better, you know? It's like a hard end at Britt or Tiff. So it was easy to, it was easy to monopolize on that one. But it is.

Britt (01:19.266)

I know.

Britt (01:24.137)

It just takes some years. Eventually we'll get there.

The Dental A Team (01:45.709)

It is always sunny. I feel like this year I decided, or not this year, I guess last year, I told my son, I said, I think we just need to stop pretending like we live in a state or a space of life that actually has a winter. People who live in the tropics, they just realize, guess what? It's just going to be tropical. Like we're not going to get a winter and that's okay. And I think in Arizona and Phoenix, at least, like that's the life we need to start living. Stop pretending like it's going to be sweater weather. It's not going to happen.

So here we are. Yeah.

Britt (02:15.414)

saying, it's warmer this year. Every year we say like, it should be cooler. Like exactly, like it is what it is and you know what? I'm happy for it. I am perfectly fine not having freezing weather.

The Dental A Team (02:21.603)

Yeah.

The Dental A Team (02:27.672)

I agree. I agree. The 70s in December, I will take it. It's fine. We'll just see what the summer looks like. So we'll chat back around on that when the summer comes.

Britt (02:32.161)

Absolutely.

We'll sound a little different then, but it's fine. It's short. It's short.

The Dental A Team (02:38.928)

Yeah, yeah, I love it. this kind of, honestly, all of it kind of goes into itself and the plans and the prepping and looking forward. And we are in the business of constantly looking at where we're going. But you also have to look at where you've been. And so in order to make sure your 2025 is super, super strong, you guys, we kind of wanted to revisit some of the pieces that we chatted about towards the end or towards the last quarter, Q4, of 2024.

some of those strategic planning tips and tricks that we had given you back then. We want to make sure that you guys actually implemented them and then look at, okay, implemented, now how do we use them? So I brought Brett here because Brett, think your business brain is brilliant and I want to make sure we don't miss any of the pieces. So guys, I know we chatted about this. It might be a review.

But I really want you to dig deep sometimes when you re-listen to a podcast or when you listen to something that has similar information, you're like, gosh, I didn't hear that last time or this means more to me today than it did when I listened to it three months ago because I'm in a different space. So I really want you to dive deep. I want you to listen in. One of the biggest pieces I think practices can miss is the opportunity to look at the stats and really, really look at where you've been.

where you're trying to go, but where you are right now. for it, correct me if I'm wrong. I think 99.9 % of the people who come to us, the clients, the potential clients, the future clients, the listeners are here saying, we need systems. And WATM is here and we get to build systems. And we come in and I'm like, gosh, you have so many systems. Like the reason that you feel chaotic is because you don't know where to start.

Britt (04:03.172)

you

The Dental A Team (04:25.893)

Right, Britt? So how do we help them? I really want them to learn how to check trends, know where to start, know what like 2025's focus needs to be, because systems, like you've got a whole dental practice, you've got multiple departments within your dental practice, and to say systems is quite overwhelming. It's like, you know, trying to pull a raindrop out of a rain cloud, it's just not possible, and it causes a lot of chaos and confusion, and I think narrowing that down helps people to be able to see.

What needs to come next? What's that next step? So Britt, you do work with a lot of clients and you've worked with a lot of clients over the last three years that you've been here with us. Thank you so much. A little longer than that now, but almost four. But how do you help them to really see that space, especially going into the new year to say, okay, what do I need to do this year to be super successful?

Britt (05:18.5)

I think Tiff, comes from planning for systems, yes, and also our big picture like ultimately shapes our priorities. So like, that's why I think even in Q4, we harp so much on like, all right, what's happened this year? What do you want to do next year? What are our goals for next year? Because having a path or having something we're shooting for helps us to prioritize some things. For example, let's say,

great, we want to grow 15 % next year, right? We've got the space, we know our schedule's not full, we want to grow our revenue, our collections by 15%, and then it's like, all right, then if.

what's going on that's keeping us from getting there. So then we like walk it back and those are some of the important stats that we need to set goals around and make sure we're tracking. If our schedule's not full, then it's like, all right, do we have enough patients to fill the schedule? Do we not have enough patients? Do we need to get more? Is it a marketing thing? Is it just better scheduling and follow up on our end? And that's gonna start to shape some of the systems. So like with this example.

The Dental A Team (06:10.801)

Go.

Britt (06:16.824)

Let's say our schedule's not full. All right, do we have block scheduling and how are we following up with people who don't have appointments? Those would be two systems that we would start with to get things rolling in the right direction to set us up for success in 2025 if you've got a growth goal like that.

The Dental A Team (06:17.234)

.

The Dental A Team (06:31.046)

Yeah. Yeah, I love that. I love that you narrowed it down from big to small. And that's what the trends will show us. And the mark that I think is truly must right is seeing the bigger picture, like you said, but on a small level, which sounds confusing and contradictory. you're like, how do you go like you're saying big, but you're saying small when we're looking at those big pieces, when we're tracking them. And I do love there's like a side tangent. I do love

the companies that come in and they pull your stats for you, right? So you've got an outside source and you log in and you can see all your stuff. You guys know what I'm talking about. There's multiple different companies and different systems out there. I do love those analytics companies and resources, but I really, really love too for you guys to know the actual numbers and to know how to pull them yourself, even if you're using an analytics company. I want you to be able to see both of them because I believe that if you

have your hands in it yourself, you're soaking in the knowledge. So either way, I want you to just verify, clarify, verify all the pieces, but having a space, I know we've got a lot of our clients, if not all of them by now, on our scorecard system. It's a simple, well simple is probably the wrong word to use there, but it's simple for our clients. It was a labor of love for us, but it's an Excel spreadsheet and I love going old school.

Britt (07:48.055)

You

The Dental A Team (07:54.48)

with those kind of simple tools like Excel, because I think if we can get all of that data and metrics onto one screen, right, even in a lot of the analytics, like you've got to, flipped between screens and you don't always see how one trend leads into another trend or one metric can negatively or positively affect a metric that it seems like it wouldn't. So you might have hygiene data on one screen, right, flip to another screen and you've got.

your production collections, and then another screen you got your AR. Well, guess what? There are different systems within each one of those screens, right, that affect all of them. And when we've got them all in one space, you guys, and you're looking at them, your brain is like, wait, this is a puzzle. Let me put this together. And you start seeing how they lead up or lead down into one another. So, Britt, like you're saying, our schedule's not full, right? This is a common, common, common statement.

from dental practices, my schedule's not full, or I have high cancellations. And it's very easy to be like, oh my gosh, I have all of the answers for that. Like, Britt could come up with like 15 different things for both of those problems. Schedule's not full, high cancellations. We can tackle it all, and I could implement, and Britt could implement 30 systems today, but the question is, are those systems the actual problem, or are we kind of like putting a band-aid?

over a bigger issue that's underlying that we may not be seeing underneath, right? So I love, Britt, that you said that like, great, let's talk, let's look at block scheduling. And you said, you didn't say let's do block scheduling. You said, do we have block scheduling in place? Because, you know, practices do that. Practices know how to do it. There's a million freaking podcasts. We're not the only company who does block scheduling, number one. And we have so many podcasts on block scheduling. So a lot of people are doing it. So then we dig into,

Britt (09:41.86)

Thank

The Dental A Team (09:48.735)

how are we doing the block scheduling instead of just saying, this is how you should be doing it. Because I do think that's the mark that a lot of people overlook as well. know, coaches come in and they're like, well, this is how I want you to do it. Well, your way might be working. It might be something else. So really digging into those pieces. So Britt, as you're looking at these scorecards with your clients and we've used analytics companies, we still do, right? We have analytics that we use from companies and we have clients who use different companies.

What is it that you look for the most and like big overarching that these practices and these doctors can really start keying into that show a space that like, want growth this year. That could mean anything. What are some overarching numbers that you like to track with your practices that will help them key into their focus this year?

Britt (10:39.78)

Yeah, and I'll go through some of those numbers and we want both like leading and lagging, right? So for example, if I want to hit 15 % growth and revenue, tracking that revenue is going to be a lagging measure. So we need to work on, all right, what are some leading things to get us to that end goal that are going to be helpful to track and see what's going on? Another reason for tracking is one, if we're implementing a system or adjusting a system,

Feelings are fleeting and numbers are facts, whatever that saying is. But the numbers actually will tell you, one, did you implement something that's actually having the impact you want it to have? And number two, if we shifted something, is it shifting it in the right direction for us? So is it useful or not? And sometimes there's things that we'll implement that are so cumbersome and it doesn't do anything, then it's like, why are we doing it? It should be easy and it should be effective at the end of the day.

The Dental A Team (11:10.741)

Mm-hmm.

The Dental A Team (11:18.439)

Yeah.

The Dental A Team (11:31.304)

Yeah.

Britt (11:34.756)

And so that's kind of my little plug for also tracking numbers is one, knowing where we're at and two, knowing if the things that we're implementing are having the impact we want them to have. So some important ones, you're gonna have your big picture ones, right? And that's, you'll notice my brain thinks big to little. That's just kind of how I think, where's the end goal we wanna get to? And then what are the things that build up to that top most important thing?

So if it's revenue, right, then of course production and collection. We're only gonna collect as much as we produce and we've got to make sure that we're collecting everything that we actually do the work for and can have the potential to collect.

The Dental A Team (12:02.645)

Yeah.

Britt (12:07.64)

So that's gonna be one. And then it's like, all right, next level beyond that, what leads into those two things? Production is gonna be case acceptance, how we're scheduling, right? Those are gonna lead up to that production. And then on the collection side, it's like, all right, what's our AR? Where are all our buckets at? What's sitting out there? What are we not getting collected from patients? That are gonna be some of the big pieces.

And then you can kind of walk it down from there and great track by provider, track by hygienist. And then what are the other things? What's our SRP that's going to feed to our production? What's our fluoride that's going to be feeding to our production and what are the doctors diagnosing? Right? Cause we're the buckets are right. We're only going to make as much as we ever diagnose. And we only are going to make as much as we actually like get scheduled and complete from what we diagnose.

The Dental A Team (12:30.134)

Yeah.

The Dental A Team (12:49.525)

Yeah.

Britt (12:54.756)

and then we've got to collect on the things that we actually complete. So we kind of work our way down that way. So those are some of my favorite ones, Tiff, and looking ahead can be super helpful. What are we scheduled to next week? Just to get team members looking ahead, and if we're not scheduled to go, then it should spur a plan of, okay, then what do we need to do to get next week's schedule to go? Or if there's holes in hygiene, what are we going to do to get those holes filled?

The Dental A Team (13:18.999)

Yeah, and what you just said right there to like all of that, I want everyone to take all of that and figure out how you can implement those pieces or what you're not looking at maybe, like what have you not been paying attention to that we can add in, not replace, but add into the metrics that you're looking at this year. But what you just said is if we're not scheduled to go next week, what's our action items now? A lot of practices, you know, get stuck in the lag measures. We know our lead measure, we know

we're supposed to make $250,000 each month, right? So that's our lead measure. Our lead measure is what are we supposed to produce and collect? How many new patients are we supposed to have? And then the first week of every month, we look back and we say, did we do that last month? And sometimes we did, right? Sometimes we didn't. And if we're not tracking it more frequently, like you said, if we're not looking at next week, what's next week's lead measure based on last week's lag measures?

We have to alter them sometimes. If last week or the week before we were down, that impacts us moving forward. So then we get to the last week, sometimes I hear office managers really rallying. They're like, okay, guys, we've got three days left and we need $30,000 in addition to what we already have on the schedule. And people are like, you want us to add 10 grand a day? What are you talking about? Like, yep, we need six Invisalign cases.

Britt (14:38.798)

to get, we can do it guys, right? Like come on.

The Dental A Team (14:43.096)

We got this, right? But what if 15 days ago, you were like, hey, we need $2,000 every day, right? Instead of three days, 30,000. Like, how do we make sure, you know, that we're looking at those things far enough ahead, but also looking at the backside? And I think you caved into it there on the weekly basis. So making sure doctors that, and this is how the scorecard works. We have it working off of.

monthly but also a weekly. The weekly will feed into the monthly for that purpose because we want to be able to see the trends within the weeks. We want to be able to predict what we need successfully so that hitting goals is easy. When I put practices on these kinds of metrics, these weekly metrics, I train a lot, does too, we train a lot of office managers on scorecards like this because it's the easiest way to learn how the numbers work and how the

small changes, like you said, Britt, affect those numbers so drastically. Sometimes you're like, gosh, ding it, our collections stinks and we've got cancellations all over the place. And so an office manager might be like, okay, guys, implement a $75 fee for every cancellations, black and white, they cancel, get $75 fee. And then all of a sudden it's like, that didn't help either one of them. We've got patients in an uproar and next month we realized we attritioned out 10 patients.

because of fees. So we might be too dramatic or too drastic in a systems implementation if we're not watching the rest of what's happening as well. So if you start to see the trends within the week, you might notice, you might even start paying attention, like, what was this week, right? We had high cancellations, but guess what? Maybe it's spring break and maybe parents forgot. So then maybe the metric we need to look at is how far out to the frequencies of our confirmations are.

Are we giving them enough notice and enough reminder notice four times like this when it's spring break rather than like, nope, cut it. People suck, $75, cross the board, we're doing it. And it's like, we weren't looking closely enough to the smaller trends within or the things that are sometimes hidden, like a break that we don't think about. So watching it on a weekly basis, I think sincerely helps with the AR. Britt, that's a huge piece that I think doctors

Britt (16:55.331)

Yeah.

The Dental A Team (17:03.81)

I know they don't get trained on, like they don't know, we barely know, right? I'm like, we were trained by other people and other people and now we have all of the knowledge, but most front office people have been trained by other people. And now it's like, yes, Dental A Team, please teach me my AR, because now we know, right? What are the big pieces that doctors should be watching on a weekly basis when it comes to the AR? What do you train your doctors to look for?

Britt (17:28.964)

Yeah. And with AR, you want to look at the buckets, right? And buckets mean what's current zero to 30 days, then what's 31 to 60, and you look at it in 30 day chunks. So you can see.

how things are trending again with numbers, right? That's another piece of tracking it regularly is to see trends and what's trending, what direction are we heading? AR is a big one, right? We want most of that money that's due to us within the next 30 days, because it should mostly be insurance. We should have collected from patients their estimated portion at least.

The Dental A Team (17:52.056)

Yeah.

Britt (18:00.612)

And so it should be insurance. then from there, right, zero to six days. OK, maybe some claims take us a little bit longer to get paid. So like there's going to be a little chunk in there. And then 60 to 90, we shouldn't have as much. And by 90 plus, we really shouldn't have hardly anything, five percent or less really sitting in there. And so with doctors one knowing how much is in each bucket and then you can kind of see what insurance company was it was it United that had an issue this year and you saw everybody's buckets go from zero to 30.

The Dental A Team (18:03.578)

you

The Dental A Team (18:17.242)

Thank you.

Britt (18:30.566)

Oh, now there's a big chunk in 30 to 60 and there's a big chunk in 60 to 90 until that got resolved and the money's coming in so you can kind of watch where that bolus happens and if there's a bolus moving along into getting older there's something happening that we need to address that's causing that to happen.

The Dental A Team (18:32.468)

So,

The Dental A Team (18:49.498)

Totally agree. And you're right though, you have that big insurance thing that happened this year as multiple companies. And then I think that was the one that got super hit. But also I've had clients that have tracked it weekly, monthly, all those pieces and started realizing that they had payment plans that were lapsing that they didn't realize before. So I do not advocate, know that my team does not advocate in office payment plans, you guys, I hate them for this reason. They get lost. You're not a bank. you're a provider, a service provider.

Britt (19:09.624)

No. Don't do it.

The Dental A Team (19:18.661)

provide the services and get paid for what you do. If you need options for payment plans, please call us. Just let us know. Hello at the NLATN.com. Exactly.

Britt (19:24.952)

Pre-payment is your option. Pre-payment is the option. can force the payment and get it done once it can be paid for.

The Dental A Team (19:31.382)

Exactly. I always say, me help you build a savings account and we will save it here for you. And then we can get your treatment when you're done. But I had a lot of patients that, or a lot of practices that realized all of a sudden, like it wasn't necessarily just the insurance companies. We started really looking at it on a super fine scale because of what happened with the insurance. But then they're like, wait a second Tiff.

A lot of this is patient and I'm like, because you've not been looking at it, right? We've not tracked it like this on this kind of a scale. So these are the pieces you guys that really start to jump out. These are the things that I think you guys are waking up in the middle of the night, like, my gosh, what if this is a thing, right? And you're like, give me a system. Like, we have the systems. This is the system. Like track the trends, track what's happening, track where you're going, track where you've been so you can see where you need to go. So you know where you're going.

You know where you've been. Now do we need to add anything to where you're going in order to hit goals? Make sure your money is accounted for. Call us when you need systems, KPIs, key performance indicators, scorecards that track trends, and having people in your back pocket that are there to help you. Whether it's us, a consulting company, a coach, a friend, whomever it is, also having your team members on your side. So who's filling in this information and has your back there?

Britt (20:24.141)

Mm-hmm.

The Dental A Team (20:48.508)

Those are my biggest to-do's for your 2025. You guys don't over-complicate it. It's really easy to over-complicate it. It's really easy to try to tackle too much at one time. I want you guys to pull your data, pull your numbers, where are you trying to go, and which metric needs to be dialed first. So first quarter, which metric do we need to dial up in order to push you towards those goals? Britt mentioned earlier in the podcast, it might be billing.

It might be marketing. might be that you need more new patients. It might be scheduling. Like where is it that you're low in all of the different areas within your trends? So you can twist that dial, ramp it up, and then watch the other ones and see how those trends do so you can pick your next one. Britt, brilliant brain, brilliant Britt. I was going to call you today. Brilliant brain Britt. Thank you so much for all of the input and all of the work that you've put in. You helped me a ton with that scorecard.

Britt (21:33.7)

you

The Dental A Team (21:42.976)

for our clients, so thank you so much. cannot wait to have everyone on that ding-ding scorecard. It's going to be incredible. And you guys, if you're a client of ours, you're not on the scorecard yet, reach out to your consultant. Make sure that you've got all the data, you've got all the meetings and all the pieces together for that. If you're not yet a client, we can't wait to meet you. And if you're Forever Podcast listener, then freaking rock out, text us, email us.

Ask us what you need and if you need help with these things. always here for all of you guys, no matter what your status is. Thank you so much. Reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com Drop us a five star review. We can't wait to hear from you guys and hear how amazing your 2025 is going.

So many projects, so little time, right? In this episode, Kiera breaks down how to successfully go about prioritizing the tasks in your life. She walks listeners through …

1. Making a list of tasks

2. Dividing the list into chunks

3. Fine-tuning delegation

4. Establishing deadlines and follow-up loops

Remember: Not everything that needs to be done in your life needs to be done by you.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera: hello@thedentalateam.com 

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Review the podcast

Kiera’s talking shop and eating cake pops! (You’ll have to listen to this episode to catch that joke…) In this solo episode, Kiera talks about increasing your case acceptance with a different spin: Actually being interested in other people.

Do you work too hard on being interesting instead of being interested in other people? Kiera offers advice on how to improve relationships with your patients on an individual basis. It’s all about the power of understanding and the power of listening, folks!

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Visit The Dental A-Team website

Review the podcast on iTunes

This episode is all about money! It’s time to face the truth when it comes to your finances, but Ryan Isaac, senior financial with the Dentist Advisors...Continue Reading...

With today’s employee-driven hiring trend, it’s important to be an attractive place to work. In this episode, Kiera dives into how practices can become very appealing places for prospective employees. She shares how the Dental A-Team retains its team members, what your turnover can indicate, and ways your practice can shine brighter than the rest.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera

Listen to episode 505, What is Your Practice’s X Factor?

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Review the podcast on iTunes

Kiera talks about how to effectively hire team members who don’t have formal dentistry training — and how they can be some of the best employees you’ll ever have.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera

Tune Into DAT’s Monthly Webinar

Practice Momentum Group Consulting

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Review the podcast

Transcript:

Kiera Dent (00:00.942)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. I hope you are just having the best day of your life. I know sometimes we don't always have the best days. know sometimes different things happen, but I truly hope that you just remember we are so blessed to be in dentistry. We're so blessed to be able to have the jobs that we have. We're so blessed to be able to give patients back so much confidence.

Welcome to today. And don't forget that where intention goes, energy flows. So if we're constantly thinking about how terrible life is or how terrible our job is or how hard the hiring thing is, we get it. And also remember if we can switch our focus and see the good, we tend to get more of that. If you don't believe me, I'm going to have you guys do a quick fun activity. If you're driving, I would recommend you not do this, but you know, if you're not, that's fine. I'm going to give you guys 10 seconds and I want to have you look around the room.

and want you to count everything that's white. On your mark, get set,

Kiera Dent (01:02.41)

And now I want you guys to stop and I want you to tell me how many things you saw that were red. And usually when I do this in an office, people are like, my gosh, like I wasn't looking for red and they all started giggling and I'm like, and how many of you actually looked for white things and you saw beige things and counted them as white? The reality is we get what we were looking for. There's red all around us, but sometimes we're missing it because we're looking so heavy for the white. And for

I'm looking around my room and you better believe I'm gonna count these beige shelves over here and this cream blanket over here, but I'm going to miss all the things that are red around me. And there's red all around us all the time or there's yellow or there's orange. But I want you to think about this because in today's topic, I think this is super relevant for what we get is what we are focused on. And so again, if things aren't going as well, again, I think that there's a lot of help that can happen. I'm not here to say that we just have to have an optimistic attitude.

but I do believe that looking for these positive things will actually breed more positivity into it. It's like a snowball. The more we're focused on the good things, the better it goes. The more we're focused on the negative things, the more we tend to find more negative. And that's not to say that we can't have the hard times, but it's interesting. look there, I have a practice and when I started with them, gosh, they were doing about 200 ,000 per month and they are now crushing over $480 ,000 a month.

And I think about this practice and they have struggles and they have different things that they're doing. But one thing I've noticed consistent about this practice is they are constant. I mean, constantly focus on the wins, the positive, how can we grow there? They've got incredible core values. Their leadership team is very focused on it. Their office manager is very focused on it. Their doctor is very encouraging and empowering. And I'm like, what is the difference of certain offices that just struggle? And when we come to meetings, they talk about their issues, but they do it in a way where

how can we fix this? What do we need to learn? They collaborate with their consultant. They use me as a coach and a guide and a sounding board versus other offices. They often love to live in problems and they don't take action and they don't fix it forever. And again, just looking at your practice and what are kind of the behaviors and the attributes, because I don't believe that things are just happenstance. I do believe that certain things do happen, but even in our own company, like I am literally like,

Kiera Dent (03:19.95)

you put me on the radar and I am always looking for what's wrong, how can I solve it? And that's a consultant's world, but that's not always positive to do in my marriage, in my family, in myself. And so making sure that we're using things to our best interest. So with that said, thank you for being a part of our Dental A Team Podcast family. Thank you for your reviews. Thank you for sharing our podcast and keeping us as one of the number one dental podcasts out there. Please keep doing that because my goal is to be in the hands of every dental practice out there.

to positively impact and influence the world of dentistry for good. And so we're gonna go right on, yes, I have my pen out. This is the teacher in me. I did use to teach high school sign language, believe it or not. I feel like I've lived many different lives. So I was a model at one point in time. I taught high school. Gosh, I've done so many random jobs. I worked for a geology firm for once upon a time. I used to work at Century 21 in their accounts payable. I was told I talked too much over there.

But I feel like a myriad of jobs. worked at KFC and A &W. I think that's a random. I mowed lawns with my family lawn business. That was very embarrassing in high school to have people honk and wave when I'm in my total grubbies. My brother thought it was totally fine to go to the mall when we were dressed like that, and I was mortified. So the jobs I've had are quite vast and varied. But that's kind of going into this, because there was a question about hiring. And what do we hire? And how do we hire? And how do we stop the turnover? And hiring verbiage?

Stapping and all this and then the question popped up that we saw of is hiring from outside of dentistry a good idea So I kind of want to just like let's dive a little bit into hiring Let's talk about some different outside -the -box solutions but really I also want you to remember like what we focus on is what we get and I was just recently at a seminar and they talked about how asking better questions Leads to better results. So if we say why is hiring so hard?

we've literally programmed our brain to believe that hiring is hard and we're having to find ways to make hiring hard. And I know that sounds a little crazy, but think about it like so much of what we, what we experience is not what we experienced, but our perception of the experience is what we actually experience. I'm going to say that again. So much of what we experienced in life is not the actual experience. It's our perception of the experience. so asking better questions to prompt our brains, to prompt our team. So instead of saying, why is hiring so hard or why can't we find anybody?

Kiera Dent (05:41.56)

We're literally programming ourselves to believe that we can't find anybody in that hiring is hard versus saying, we need to hire an office manager. Where are office managers at and how can we find the best office manager? We want to hire the best hygienist. Where are the hygienists at and how can we hire the best hygienist for our practice? That is a very different piece and you literally like, we're asking questions and we're giving ourselves answers. And so ask better questions and get better answers. Other questions could be like, all right, so hygienist.

it's a different hiring landscape out there. What are hygienists looking for now that would make us competitive to hire the best hygienists? Well, now that's a very different answer instead of answering why is hiring hard. Why is hiring hard can be very much a like, woe is me mentality of like, well, the job market and COVID and there's all these hygienists. But yet I have a lot of offices that are hiring hygienists with no problems. And I don't say that to make you feel yucky. I'm just saying that if other people can do it, you can too.

I do believe better questions lead to better results. And so what question you're asking could be why you're getting maybe lackluster results. So like, for example, let's go outside of dentistry and say, why is it so hard to work out? Well, I've just programmed myself to tell myself that working out is hard versus what makes working out fun. Well, now I have a way different outcome. I have a way different answer and I have a way different, I'm solving a different problem. And so I want you guys, when you're thinking about it, just like I said,

There are a million questions around us just like there's all the red around us and there's all the white around us and all the orange and yellow It's all around us. There's candidates all around us, too and So let's just kind of go through the hiring landscape a little bit of number one Let's ask better questions and let's get better answers. So let's think of where are these best candidates located? Who do we already know? That's an incredible hygienist or an incredible office manager and could we tap into those resources and ask them? Hey, where were you at when you got hired?

What are some areas? What are some things that you would put in a job ad? Do you know any people that are like you that might be interested in getting a job? What things should we be putting in our ads? What things should we be looking for right now? Those are way more proactive questions to be asking versus why is this so hard and why can't we hire anybody? Literally, you're making your reality. so let's stop those questions and let's give better questions. Now, on the other side of it is then with we're having a lot of turnover. Let's ask the questions

Kiera Dent (08:03.66)

Why are we having so much turnover and what's causing team members to leave our practice and really get to the root of it and fix those problems forever. And so what is that and how can we fix it? you know, like our team, we just got some good feedback from it and it was like, all right, what can we do? Are there different things that we could change? What's the common thread and A, are we setting up wrong expectations when we hire or B, do we need to make some like structural changes within our company? It's really good. And again, remember it's not right or wrong. And I know this is hard you guys. I am a person who

It needs oxygen, just like I need people to like me as a person. And I know that sounds ridiculous, but I've just realized that that's a piece about me where I really enjoy having people like me. like the connections. I like people around me. I like to have a good time. so oftentimes when I hear negative feedback or constructive feedback, it's sometimes hard for me to disassociate that this is just feedback. It's not actually about me. And so if we can disassociate it and realize like

We are so lucky and so blessed that they're telling us the feedback so we can find the root problem and solve it and fix this problem from happening. We do live in a world where people are changing jobs and sometimes that can feel frustrating because it's not what we're used to. But yet at the same time, we aren't used to taking film X -rays anymore either. And what an amazing transformation that's been. Isn't it an amazing transformation that maybe we get more team members that come in. And because team members are turning so much

Maybe that could be a positive for us and maybe that helps us onboard people faster. And that's also where I do believe that hiring outside of dentistry is a good idea. Some of my best practices actually hire outside of dentistry. And what's crazy is when we hire outside of dentistry, a lot of times these people are actually more loyal to the practices. Dentistry is a very different industry, just so you know, from corporate, it's very family friendly. It's very kind. It's very,

It's just a different vibe and I don't have a better way to describe that other than the fact that it is just truly a different vibe. so sometimes when people hire outside of dentistry, they literally get people where they train them from the ground up and these people are diehard loyal to them because they've given them this incredible opportunity. I know a lot of the corporate dental practices actually hire people outside of dentistry. They train them for about a month and these people are amazing employees.

Kiera Dent (10:24.626)

I work with some offices and I train them to be great treatment coordinators. I work with some other offices and train them how to be incredible billers. So there's a lot of skillsets that are transferable. And so I know some people that have hired outside of dentistry, they go for the service industry. So restaurants and waitresses, believe it or not, Shelbi, if you guys have ever gotten to interact with our company, you've probably been able to meet Shelbi. Shelbi is by far one of the most incredible employees that I have.

so kind, she's so considerate and Shelbi who used to be a waitress and I was like this girl pays attention to people's needs. She's obsessed about serving and taking care of people. She's an amazing customer success employee and takes great care of our clients and she takes great care of me. But I paid attention to the type of service she came from. Kaylee who used to work in our company, incredible person. She came from selling. She worked in, she's a high school or excuse me an elementary school teacher and she also used to

for one of the best car companies in our area. That company had incredible customer service and she had amazing customer service. And so I hired her from there. I've heard of people hiring from tanning salons and from the beauty industry and from waiter and waitresses and from fast food and some people who want really good treatment coordinators.

They snag them from in the mall. Those people who are like giving you out those perfume samples, they say like, hey, if you want a job that's like meaningful and impactful, that's going to serve and uplift people, give me a call. And they literally give out their business cards to them. But paying attention to this service industry, some of my best office managers actually come from the banking industry. Like hands down, I'm obsessed with bankers who come in as office managers because they get the finances, they get the, they have it. They just need to learn the industry knowledge, but they are not afraid of money. And best office managers.

And that practice that I mentioned to you at the beginning, who's just been doing an incredible job. They are a practice who hired outside of dentistry. I have another practice and they took one of our online virtual courses of our dental assistant one, and they literally are training dental assistants within. They weren't able to do a dental assistant course. There are some programs where you can actually create a dental assistant course and have a second business within your practice. I'm happy to share that info. If you want it, reach out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. But this practice couldn't do that in the state they're in. And

Kiera Dent (12:40.002)

We took the course, our course, our dental assisting course online. Literally, I built it to be training someone from off the streets to be able to do dentistry. Our entire virtual academy course, I built it with videos and trainings and CE. So that way you don't have to train them on all the pieces of verbiage, how we schedule, what the blocks are. Yes, you still need to train them within your practice, but there's a huge, huge academy already built for you that you don't have to go and do this all on your own.

My offices use that and they use it to structure it for their practices when they bring them on. We have a 30, 60, 90 day onboarding for team members that don't come from dentistry that we've created for a lot of our practices. And those are some of the amazing things within our virtual academy that I really love to share because there are ways to hire outside of it and they become so great. Truth be told, the best scheduler I ever met came from a tanning salon. Like hands down, best scheduler. Like the schedule was always full. She was over the top, amazing. She used to

in a restaurant setting as well, and then came from a tanning salon. And again, it's that service industry that works so well. And I've had quite a few dental assistants come from other industries, the hair industry, the service industry, any of those types of industries really can be incredible to bring in and just bring new vibes, bring it. Yes, it is tricky to train them up into dentistry, but remember all of us were trained at one point. All of us know what it was like. I went to school, but the reality is,

Office management, I didn't have schooling for that. It was a lot of hard knocks to learn it. so positions that I don't usually recommend hiring for dentistry is if you're a new doctor, you really need a good office manager who understands billing and treatment coordinating and scheduling for you because that's a tricky thing for you being a new owner, being a new doctor that I really don't recommend hiring outside of dentistry for. Now, if you've got quite a few systems built up, like I said, banking office managers are amazing to bring in. We train up office managers. So I have a lot of clients

We do a call with the doctor and then we actually train their, their team for them and their office managers. So a lot of really awesome ways that you're able to do it, but like use your resources, get the help. but you're going for culture. You're going for the hunger, scheduling app. don't usually recommend a schedulers from like optometry. Optometry is a little bit slower paced, typically not all the time, but like optometry and, certain other maybe like healthcare professions. They're not going to be the same.

Kiera Dent (14:59.766)

Now a busy chiropractic office might feel the same for you. I love bringing people in for ortho or pediatric or any of those like really fast pace where they're churning. They tend to work really, really well in dentistry, but I don't want to hire someone just because they're in medical if they're coming even from like dermatology or from, like I said, optometry. Those practices don't tend to turn as quickly as dentistry tends to. And I want someone who's used to working the fast pace. They're used to doing the busyness.

And that's what I'm going to bring in from outside. That's why a waiter or waitress, they're so used to the busy, like you're constantly having to pay attention to a ton of different tables and you're able to like make an impact and serve people and make them happy. Amazing people to bring in to your industry scheduling. I think about like at Harris Lawns, there's customer service, there's different things. And so you can put ads out and you can train them. There's also ways that you can hire like virtual assistants to do certain things. I've heard of some companies loving it and others not liking it so much.

can outsource. outsourcing is also a great option, but I think let's get creative. And again, let's pretend we were able to hire another, let's say front office. can't hire a scheduler. What would we do instead? And how could we innovate this? Well, we could outsource it or we can have this or our billing's taking forever. Can we outsource this to another company? love DCS. dental claim support is a great one or Shasta with Paragon, two great companies. Be sure to let them know Dental A Team sends If

Reach out to them. do get preferred pricing for all of the people we refer. That's my motto. I don't do affiliate pricing, but I do do preferred pricing for you guys. things like that. But really, again, I think it's what are we focused on? Are we getting that? How can we ask better questions and get better answers? And then I do believe hire outside of dentistry. Let's not just keep picking out of the same cabbage patch, but let's go outside because there's so many other service industries.

And if you can create a process where you can hire anybody up, that's why I built the Virtual Academy. So be sure to use it. can, if you're not interested in consulting, by all means, we have the Virtual Academy that you can purchase and use and you can train up your team. You can use it for onboarding. If you're like, hey, I don't even know how to do this and I need you to help train and onboard our office manager. We do that as well. So be sure to reach out. I'd love to help you out. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. But the reality is...

Kiera Dent (17:13.59)

Let's start asking better questions. Let's start innovating. Let's get excited for the landscape that we're living in instead of feeling like it's such a problem. And let's start innovating and taking advantage of what we're able to have. Fix the problems when people turn over. Ask them the hard questions. Make the changes if you can. Set better expectations when we hire. And then make sure that what we're doing is we're checking in with them, we're getting the feedback from them, and then we're able to hire outside of dentistry and bring people in.

You guys, I hire consultants that are not consultants and I train them to be consultants. And while some might think I'm crazy because 90 % of consulting companies don't do that, they expect you have consulting experience. I believe that I'm able to morph them and train them into the person I want them to be. We're able to create this incredible consultant. guess what? It sometimes is really hard because within their first, usually six months, a lot of them can't make it. A lot of them are actually not cut out to be consultants. A lot of them don't like the world. They don't enjoy being a consultant.

And I'm okay with that because the ones that make it, the ones that go through are some of the best people I've ever met. Tiffanie, Dana, Brittany, amazing consultants that truly inspire me to keep hiring people that don't have the experience to keep training. Because when I get a good one, they're with me for life. And I think that that's one of the best things I've got others. I've had quite a few consultants that don't make it. have quite a few consultants that it wasn't a good fit for them or for us. And I'm okay with that because they're learning a new skill.

And I'm teaching someone who's never done this before. So you also have to be okay that you might not have as great of a success rate, but you're doing something different. And then you're not handcuffed. I am not handcuffed to just hiring hiring consultants. I can hire office managers or regional managers. And my cabbage patch is so much larger. If you don't just have to hire a scheduler who knows how to do scheduling or hire someone who's done billing, your cabbage patch of where you're able to go and find people is so much larger than just this finite area. And I think that that's something that can really free you

Again, asking better questions, getting better results. And don't stress, I don't hire anybody that we have worked with. So just so you know, I never want offices to ever be afraid because yes, we do hire office managers, but I have a very strict policy that you're not allowed to work with the LA team if we've consulted your practice. So never fear. We train them up and they're yours because I really truly believe that my job is to help you succeed.

Kiera Dent (19:33.67)

it's never ever, ever for you to be afraid of consultants. Cause I do know some consultants are that way. So just so you guys know, I think that, and that's something that you can do also, if you're training up other people, make sure that you, you risk mitigate for the person that you're with. Maybe you can risk mitigate or maybe you can get creative or maybe you can share somebody, but there's so many ways and asking better questions and looking for better results. I guarantee you, you'll have a much different experience. So change the culture, change your focus, change your life. And if we can help you reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. as always, thanks for listening.

I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.

Kiera shares some key magic phrases that will take your dental squad from B-listers to the A-team... Continue Reading...

Ladies and gentlemen, we’re talking OSHA and HIPAA compliance. The Dental A-Team welcomes Danielle McKinley, director of partner relations with PCIHIPAA, to talk about this crucial topic. It may not be the sexiest information, but it’s so integral to your practice (think potential fines of hundreds of thousands to over a millions dollars! Danielle shares some horror stories).

Danielle breaks down the difference between OSHA and HIPAA, the actual costs of becoming compliant, and steps you can take to tackle the overwhelming topics: She suggests first performing a risk assessment, which you can find at www.pcihipaa.com/danielle.

To learn more about the Dental A-Team, and have one of our consultants come to YOU, visit www.TheDentalATeam.com today!

Kiera finally shares her Tony Robbins experience! This episode is all about personal development and how Kiera became a better version of herself during a five-day event with Tony...Continue Reading... 

It’s time for some personal development time with Kiera. In this episode, she shares an approach she recently read about: You ask yourself who is the best [fill in a position in your dental practice] in the world? Now answer that question.

If it’s not your name, ask yourself if that’s who you want to become. If you do, figure out some daily habits to get you there.

Episode resources:

Connect with Kiera

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Give the podcast a 5-star review!

It’s time for another topic many dental practices don’t know enough about! SEO expert Evan Lazarus shares with Kiera the basic doctrine of SEO, or search engine optimization. 

For the non-believers, SEO equals visibility, and Evan talks about why good SEO makes you relevant in your community and industry. The most important aspect when it comes to hiring an SEO expert for your practice is to be educated — ask the questions and be willing to understand it.

Quick takeaways from this episode:

• Get your marketing budget in place

• Educate your team on SEO

• Ask questions of your marketers

Episode resources:

Connect with Evan Lazarus

Learn more about Simple Impact Media 

Reach out to Kiera

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Review the podcast on iTunes

Tiff and Dana discuss the ideal ways to utilize expanded functions dental assistants (EFDAs). They provide different ideas of how an EFDA can effectively fill in gaps, address scheduling SNAFUs, why state regulations need to be taken into consideration, and more.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Tiff and Dana

Tune Into DAT’s Monthly Webinar

Practice Momentum Group Consulting

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Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Review the podcast

Transcript:

The Dental A Team (00:01.464)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. We are back at you. Dana and I, Dana, thank you for being here with me today. I'm so excited to see you. How are you on this lovely, lovely, still morning? Yes, morning.

Dana (00:14.474)

God, I'm doing pretty good. I'm excited to be here. I like this. I know you're always like, I love my time with Dana. It's equally reciprocated. So I'm excited to get a little extra Tiff time today.

The Dental A Team (00:21.101)

Thank you.

Thank you, me too, me too. We really need to, I was thinking this morning, as I was getting ready for work, I was like, my gosh, we need to schedule the Seven Falls hike in Tucson because it's getting cooler, we'll say. So yeah, we need to find a weekend that we can get down there, you can get up there, and we meet, it's almost in the middle, right? So, awesome. Okay, hiking is my jam, you know that, we'll get that scheduled and...

Dana (00:42.731)

Yes.

The Dental A Team (00:49.771)

We're going to spend some time together today. We've already recorded one podcast and I cannot wait for that one to release. I think it was fantastic. Doctors. was really good. We just did it about coding and making sure that systems are accurate and billing is accurate and billing representatives, making sure that you're getting the support you need from your doctors within that coding accuracy department. So go listen to that. If you haven't listened to it yet, I do love all of our podcasts. I think that they're all fantastic, but

We like to hear it from you guys too. So whatever you think, whatever you need, if there's ever ideas that you guys have too that you're like, gosh, I would love more information about this. Do you know anything? One, ask us at Hello@TheDentalATeam.com We're always here to help answer questions or give ideas. But if you've got podcast ideas, like we are open to them. literally, the consulting team goes through and we pick the topics and we try to think of the things that you might like. And I honestly think sometimes we might miss the mark on something. So.

Let us know if there's things that you want more information on or things that we could dive into further for you, because we're here for that. Also drop a five star review. Let us know what you think down there as well, because we do love hearing about it. I love sharing podcasts, Do you ever share a podcast with your friends? I have a very specific friend group that's podcasters, and we very specific podcasts that we share. Do you have one of those in your life?

Dana (02:10.75)

Yes, I do. And I always joke around and say, if I start sending you podcasts or even sometimes like funny Instagram things, like you've made it to my inner circle.

The Dental A Team (02:18.672)

Yeah, I totally agree. I saw a the other day that was like, it's a full-time job. I'm here for it. You're welcome. And it was like sending memes all day to my best friend or something like that. And my best friend is a stay at home mom. And so I sent it straight to her. She's like,

You're welcome. I'm gonna log on at the end of the day and I'm like, my gosh, got a lot of things in here. Yeah, but I do, I love sharing the podcasts and sometimes I'll share a podcast and they're like, gosh, I can re-listen to this. I'm like, I don't know. Like sometimes I just re-listen to podcasts and I get nuggets and tips that I didn't catch before or it hits a little bit differently. And I know I've gone back and listened to years later a podcast and been like, wow.

I didn't even realize it could have meant this or now I'm in this space of my life and it's completely applicable. And I think about that on my free time, I listen to much different, I listen to leadership and life coaching style podcasts and I do sprinkle some dentistry in there just to stay up to date. But it made me think this morning too, these podcasts that we do.

Sometimes we've got startup doctors or two years into owning the practice or associate doctors who maybe don't own their own practice yet or maybe they don't want to own their own practice but they're super new, listen to a podcast and then fast forward five years, we've been doing this podcast for a long time you guys, going back and listening to it from a different perspective. Today I'm a different person than I was five years ago when I first listened to it.

It made me think about that this morning. I love podcasting, I love pulling you guys into the podcasting world and getting this time with you. And it really made me think about how different stages of your life things are just gonna hit a little bit differently. So I wanted to take that minute to just remind everyone to go back through. We've got a million podcasts. Share with your friends, share with your family who's in dentistry. Like how many of us, right, have some sort of family member who's also in dentistry that could use the information?

The Dental A Team (04:19.771)

Just a quick reminder, and today's topic is super fun. I am not an EFDA. I will put that out there. I'm not an EFDA, but I'm a dental assistant at heart. I will say it every single time. I just said it on the last podcast. I love dental assisting. It just makes me so happy. It fulfills my soul. So today, Dana, I thought it would be really fun to take a little adventure down the road of what an expanded functions.

dental assistant within a practice might look like. And I think this is a good space for teams and for doctors, a good podcast for doctors to really get some ideas on what that could look like within their practice. Now doctors, will say and listeners out there, not every state sees an EFDA for what another state sees them as.

So a lot of the things that we're going to talk about, remember we consult practices from coast to coast. We are all over the country. And so we've got tidbits and pieces that we picked up from different practices all over different states. So caveat to today, I want you to go check what your state's requirements are, what your state's legalities are, what they can or can't do before taking anything we say and implementing it right off the bat, right off the bat, unless you already have that information. Really easy place to go is your state dental board.

ADA usually has some interesting facts on per state. So just go double check those beforehand. So that's my caveat, but Dana and I both have worked with a lot of practices who do utilize EFTAs. It's a wild wild west out here, so we don't require the EFDA, but we do have that available here and you can do more with it. You can do the coronal polishing and things like that here in Arizona, but it's...

sadly not yet required in Arizona. I think it is getting pushed towards that way. But I wanted to pick your brain a little bit Dana on some things that you've seen maybe just within different practices across the country. We don't have to like state specific them or anything, but how have you seen chair, know, chair side wise with a doctor and after really be useful to the dentist and the practice for maybe even practice flow.

Dana (06:29.374)

Yeah, so I there's two ways that I think are super common. And I do think that, like knowing, like you said, knowing your state regulations, exactly what you're after can and can't do will kind of help you choose which way might work best for your practice. And there is the first way is they really have their own column, right? And the doctors hop in where doctor is needed. And then the flip side of that is there isn't a separate column for them. They just follow the doctor.

So I think it just kind of depends on how much they can do independently based on state laws as far as which one you choose. But those are the two most common structures that I see. And I think that...

Again, we wanna maximize the way that we utilize them. The other thing that I see is EFTAs being used a lot for assisted hygiene because if they can coronal polish, that's just another avenue for them to be able to help in a different way, help to boost production too and just see more patients.

The Dental A Team (07:19.283)

Yeah, thank you.

The Dental A Team (07:29.703)

Yeah, I agree with that. I was thinking the same thing with hygiene and I was actually thinking as you were talking about like their own provider column or utilizing that provider situation where the doctor's kind of almost the assistant following the assistant, right? It makes me think of your hygiene schedule because if you've got an assisted hygiene schedule or even just two or more hygienists, your doctors are going in for what they need to for their exams. So it's kind of similar I think to...

practices and team members get a little hung up on the scheduling piece and like wrapping their minds around it because you're kind of like Reworking how you thought about an appointment you learned how to schedule an appointment you learn the X's and slashes and the block scheduling but now we're like totally warping what you knew and adding a new caveat but if you think of it in that like assisted hygiene or Double or triple hygiene where the doctors coming in for the exams. It's kind of similar the doctors coming in for

their pieces, right, for the drilling and the decay removal while the assistant stays there just like the hygienist would stay there and finish the cleaning, et cetera, the assistant staying there and filling the tooth back in and finishing it out. So the doctor would come and go and follow the assistant more as a provider. So I do have, I actually have an interesting like smash of all of that information. I do have a practice in a state in Tennessee.

that she's a fantastic dentist and she has like these insanely great ideas and she's always smashing things together. She actually took a hygienist, had a hygienist EFDA. So she had a hygienist go get her EFDA and now she truly is like a provider column because she's doing hygiene and she's doing EFDA out of that column, out of her chair in her room. So it's kind of cool because when practices do that, I have a few practices that are maybe not hygienists, but doing that

kind of column in that chair, that process for like a provider of a few offices that are doing that. And it's almost like you can then look at it as you would an associate or that fifth hygiene. Like how much is this column, how much is this chair able to produce based on what my UFDA can produce and not just what my doctor. So then my doctor column, like my doctor heavy column over here can be those big long.

The Dental A Team (09:46.101)

crown appointments or root canals or whatever. And while he or she is able to break and go do what they need to do in my assistant, my EFDA column, they go pop over and do that and my EFDA finishes it. It's almost as if my EFDA is a provider there and can provide that column's worth of production. So it really helps you, think, when you do it that way to be able to split it out very easily. And then Dana, you mentioned the assistant following the doctor.

that's kind of the same as it is now, but you would need that other assistant to be there if the other one, like you've got two assistants calling the doctor, but that one makes it, that one I think is probably the easiest version for the scheduling aspect for people to digest because it's more similar to the way we naturally already learned how to schedule. So I think that's probably the most common one that we see.

Dana (10:22.368)

there.

The Dental A Team (10:41.62)

And then the hygiene one, I love that, the assisted hygiene, because yeah, coronal polishing, most of them can coronal polish and most states allow that, but again, double check that for you. But I do, actually have a practice that seriously struggles with hygienists. Like they're just in an area that is impossible to get and keep a hygienist. It is so hard. So what they've done is they've actually completely changed the model of their practice and we're still testing it.

We're only a few months in, so do not drop everything and change everything unless you have already been on this train and you're ready for it, but I'm not suggesting you drop everything and change it. Hygiene is difficult right now. I will put that out there. And we need more hygienists, so everyone out there listening, if you wanted to be a hygienist, go be a hygienist. need more of you guys. But this practice is really struggling in their hygiene department, so what they did was they actually got rid of the normal hygiene model, and the doctor

is the hygienist and the doctor, but he's got his FDES who are running the hygiene schedule. So he'll actually have like full hygiene only schedule and he'll run three or four columns of just hygiene. And it's actually super similar to a pedo practice scheduling. So there are smaller appointments and the assistants are doing most everything. He goes in and scales and does the exam at the same time. And he pops out and he's just running around like a pedo doctor would from room to room doing the scaling and the exam.

So that's actually been super beneficial for their practice because then they'll do three days of hygiene, two days of heavy treatment because they've got now four assistants. And so they can run assistant-driven columns on treatment days. And then his column, he can run two chairs on his with two assistants and then two assistant-driven columns.

where his F-Dos can be over there doing whitening, they can do impressions or scans for night guards, all of those pieces. So smashing all of those worlds together, he is exhausted, I'm not gonna lie. He's still trying to figure it out, because he's running around like a chicken. But it is a kind of cool smash between that Peto style of scheduling and then going back to that GP style of scheduling for those F-Dos.

The Dental A Team (13:00.019)

I know you have lot, have practices spread out all over the place too. What have you seen practices doing? Those were kind of like examples, even similarly, but what have you seen in your practices, them really be able to utilize those F-DOS4 within all of their treatment?

Dana (13:03.21)

Yeah.

Dana (13:15.86)

Yeah, I love that you pointed out, Pito, because that is a great space to utilize an EFDA because assistants are doing a lot of the hygiene, but when the assistant can do the sealants and do the night guards and even do some of the restorative, you know.

The Dental A Team (13:25.984)

Yeah.

Dana (13:30.812)

after the preps are done, jump in and do that. So, PETO is a great avenue where you can really maximize an EFDA. So, if you're a PETO practice, consider at least having one EFDA on your clinical team because you really can maximize what they can do, especially, I mean, kiddos were trying to crank and burn out those sealants pretty routinely on those kiddos. And so, having an EFDA that even they can be scheduled specifically in their column for that, that's a really great way to maximize it. I do agree on those power hygiene days. I've got a lot of practices

that are doing the same thing where it's a power hygiene day. We are bringing in as many hygienists or assistants as we can and doctor and team are cranking out as much as you can there. And I like the assisted hygiene model and even if you're not in pedo, right, to be able to have them say, hey, no, let's go in overflow. Let's do your whitening today. Hey, no, let's go into overflow. Let's get that night card started. Like they can maximize and expand on what's already on a hygiene column. And if you're just a practice where like your restorative side

The Dental A Team (14:14.005)

You too.

Dana (14:30.668)

is busy and you are booked out so far, consider bringing in an EFDA who can run their own, like essentially have their own column that you hop in and out of while you're seeing your patients to really be able to maximize the restorative need in your patient base.

The Dental A Team (14:44.576)

Yeah, absolutely. I love that you said that about pedo with like the sealants and things, because I was actually in one of my favorite practices not that long ago out in Atlanta. She's a pedo dentist and it is just like, I love pedo practices. I just get so, I feel like a child when I'm there and like, my gosh, I'm so excited. And it's so much fun, but it's moving so quickly. And the front office gals, the scheduling, they slid in like.

some sealants on a hygiene day, right? Which is like a no-no in this practice and in PETO, like if it's a hygiene day, it's fricking hygiene. And if you're not, don't have F-dos or hygiene doing the hygiene and doctors, it's a no-go. You don't do this, right? So they slid in some sealants because it was break, was spring break, of course. And doctor was like, I'm not really sure how you expect me to get this done. And in my brain, I was like, wow, that's wild to me that she's responsible for the sealants and that

I didn't, in that moment I was like, my gosh, she doesn't have someone here to do the sealants for her. That blows my mind, right? So was like, we gotta get this fixed because if a kiddo is here, a kiddo is ready, a kiddo needs sealants, bust it out. 15 extra minutes to get those sealants done is way better than reappointing, bringing them back, getting them settled in again, getting them prepped, like.

All the children love going to this specific practice. I'm not gonna lie, they love coming back. She's fantastic. But that's not always the case. So if you are a pedo practice or just even a pedo practice that schedules out really far and this patient needs sealants, it's really fantastic to, like you said, be able to just be like, yeah, let's just pop over here. This, know, EFDA over here or this high jumps over here is gonna get these sealants done for you while this person moves on to their next patient or that patient, that person can stay with that kiddo.

give that expanded service while someone else takes the next patient because you're all kind of doing the same things. And I know in pedo model, there's more dental assistants typically than there are hygiene. It's very rare that we see hygienists working in a pedo practice. So having those FDAS on hand is gonna be super beneficial. Maybe one, maybe two, depending on how busy you are, to really bust some of that stuff out. I think that is brilliant.

Dana (16:58.23)

Yeah, and I've had a lot of general practices switching right, like we talk about sealants all the time, especially to hygiene. Like that's just a great add on for hygienists, even in adults. But I've got a lot of offices where they're switching adult sealants to flowable. Well, the hygienist can't really do that, but guess who can? And then it makes that transition super easy. We can find it in hygiene, we can do it while they're there for their hygiene appointment, but we're able to do a flowable or something that maybe the doctor prefers. So I just think, think about

The Dental A Team (17:03.319)

Yeah. Yeah.

The Dental A Team (17:11.225)

Bye.

Yeah.

Dana (17:26.804)

the things that you would love to incorporate or where you might have just a gap as far as a need for it. And if you're a practice that does that, if you're a practice that's like, I just need somebody to kind of fill in those gaps here and there and FDOT is a great solution oftentimes to the obstacles that we're running into.

The Dental A Team (17:46.251)

I totally agree. My doctor for years was like, this is so frustrating because I would prefer flowable over the sealant material because it doesn't chip as easily, but he was the only one that could place it. So I agree that is brilliant. And I think whether, whether your state allows the APTA space to really be driven like that, to really be utilized, effectively, start thinking about those things that maybe even a regular dental assistant could take from your plate.

that you're holding onto that doesn't require that extra schooling or education or letters on their name. Start looking for those spaces. Pedal, general practice, oral surgery, like surgical assistance. There's a lot of stuff they can do too. And a lot of things that assistants can do that we forget to utilize them for and then we get behind or we get stuck.

you know, stuck on something. know a lot of my associate dentists, our sticklers, still about their temps. I walk into practices and I'm like, why are you making a temp right now? Like, this is insane. This is why you have dental assistants. And the dental assistants over there twiddling their thumbs like, have nothing to do all day and I don't feel important. And you know, I'm not valued. And it's like, get your butt out of that chair, doc. What can she do to help support you? Or what can he do to help support you to give that patient an even better experience and to get you moving so that that next patient's experience

Dana (18:42.038)

Yeah.

The Dental A Team (19:05.716)

isn't negatively impacted just because you're spending time doing things that you don't have to. So, EFDA or not, I think it's really important to look for those areas where a dental assistant can be super supportive. Dana, have you had a lot of practices that have been in search of EFTAs and struggled to find them? Or I feel like my practices that can utilize EFTAs, like they're out there. They're finding them fairly easily and able to get them.

into the practice right away, but what have you experienced with that with the hiring search for Aftis?

Dana (19:38.646)

Yeah.

I mean, I definitely think that they're out there. think practices can find them. And then I think if you can't get set, like if there is an assistant that you absolutely love in your practice, who you're like, she's just as a chair side master, or he just is so fantastic. Consider reaching the topic of looking for growth, right? Are you looking for growth in your position? Is this something that you would consider? I think we could implement it really well in the practice. And it's something that I think you would be great at. I think that that's an easy space to look within your practice if you can't find someone out there because oftentimes,

we've got that fantastic personality, that amazing chair-side go-getter, that if we had the conversation with them, it's something that they'd consider.

The Dental A Team (20:16.892)

I totally agree, I think that's brilliant. I actually have a doctor here in the valley that did that and I was like dang, this gonna be everybody. He had like three assistants go and he's like my life's about to be so easy. I was like sure, we're okay. Yeah, so I do agree, I do agree. All right guys, hope, dentist, I hope you found this super valuable and I hope it gave you at least some ideas or sometimes we kinda just feel stuck or lost or like I just need like.

Dana (20:26.633)

I love it.

The Dental A Team (20:39.682)

something lost in the hygiene world, like whatever it might be. I hope there was a tip or a trick in here that helped you. For my FDAS out there, you guys are fantastic. For my dental assistants out there, you guys are fantastic. My heart is with all of you guys, my hygienist, front office representatives, like I hope everyone found something super helpful and valuable within this podcast and I want you to share it with each other.

especially when it comes to the scheduling. It does get little wild. It's just a little hard sometimes to bend our minds to understand what it is we're looking for. So Dana, I think action items, number one, check your state requirements and your state laws. Like what are you allowed to do with an EFDA? And number two slash three is really explore the idea and figure out where could you add more value to your patient's appointment.

reduce your time or not, at least not increase it utilizing an APTA or a dental assistant for more than what you might be right now. Dana, is there anything else you can think of? feel like those are like the two main shebangs right now. Like think about it, figure out what you can do, think about what you'd want to do, and then implement, figure out how to implement within your practice. Yeah, awesome.

Dana, thank you so much for being here today. Your ideas were fantastic. I know you've seen so many different things in all the practices you work with. And I know that with your virtual clients, you worked a lot on the scheduling model. So thank you so much for having that knowledge and for being here with me today and letting me pick your brain. I adore you and I appreciate and value your time today. Awesome, everyone. Thank you.

Dana (22:12.768)

Thanks so much.

The Dental A Team (22:16.539)

Go leave us a five star review. I wanna know if you enjoyed this. Doctors, I really wanna make sure that this stuff is really hitting home for you, that it's something that's super valuable for you. So reach out to us, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com Let us know if you loved it. Let us know if there's more information that you'd like or if you're trying this model already and you've got some, you know, some stop holds, some holdups, some walls you're hitting, whatever that might look like, reach out to us. We're always here to help. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com and we will catch you next time.

Ladies and gents, he’s back. Dr. Dave Moghadam is again on the podcast, this time to talk with Kiera about quarterly team calibration. While there’s no silver bullet A-to-Z cookbook for how to operate a practice, an outline certainly helps. Dr. Moghadam shares his outline for setting up the ideal quarterly calibration meeting: 

1. Start with the why (review practice’s mission, vision, and values)

2. Align over treatment, planning, and diagnosis

3. Review what makes your practice stand out

To keep things exciting each quarter, Kiera and Dr. Moghadam also chat about ways to shake up the meeting.

About Dr. Moghadam:

Dr. Moghadam was born and raised in Morris County, New Jersey. After completing his undergraduate degree at Rutgers University in New Brunswick he went on to obtain his Doctor of Dental Medicine degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry (UMDNJ) in Newark. During his time at UMDNJ, Dr. Moghadam received extensive recognition for his outstanding leadership, academic and clinical aptitude, and dedication to the profession. Some of his achievements include receiving the William R. Cinotti Endowed Scholarship and the American Student Dental Association Award of Excellence, as well as induction into the Gamma Pi Delta Prosthodontic Honor Society.

He then chose to complete a general practice residency at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick where he received advanced training with an emphasis on comprehensive restorative treatment, endodontics, and implant dentistry. Dr. Moghadam is also an active member of the American Dental Association, the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Dental Associations, the Academy of General Dentistry, and the American Academy of Implant Dentistry. He has had the honor of serving as a member of both the board of trustees and the board of delegates for the New Jersey Dental Association. Dr. Moghadam has attended numerous continuing education courses and strongly believes that furthering his knowledge and expertise is essential to providing his patients with the level of care and respect that they deserve.

Episode resources:

Check out Dr. Dave Moghadam’s practice

Listen to episode 472, How to Calibrate Your Hygiene Team

Listen to episode 439, How to Merge Small Practices Into Large Ones

Reach out to Kiera

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Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Review the podcast on iTunes

Tiff is diving into digital scans in this quick episode, something she’s had a lot of practices bring up over the past few months. She talks about why digital X-rays/scans are important, how they increase diagnosis, why a plan of action is so important when having one in your practice, and more.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Tiff 

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It’s Kiera’s favorite topic: speaking with integrity — to yourself and to other people. When it comes to keeping promises, set the standard with yourself. Boost your confidence today by being honest with yourself about your expectations and owning your words.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera 

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Review the podcast

Kiera is talking with Dr. Bill Keith and Ashley Keith, her case study out of Kansas City, about how to be a forward-thinking office that excels in leadership... Continue Reading...

Kiera and Tiff are continuing to share 12 themes that every single dental practice should implement. These Wednesday episodes are the teasers; the Dental A-Team will dive in fully come 2023, month by month.

This episode looks at your practice’s patient experience in detail. We’re talking new patients, recurring patients, doctor patients, hygiene patients, consultant patients … and every part of their interaction with dentistry. Together, Kiera and Tiff touch on the different aspects you need to consider, and how each of those aspects ranks on a scale of 1 to 5 stars.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera and Tiff

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You know her, you love her — Dr. Jenny Perna is back on the podcast! In this episode, Dr. Perna talks with Kiera about keeping a positive mindset in a variety of ways. A big one for Dr. Perna is fitness, so she discusses how she uses staying active to find that endorphin release each day. That endorphin release can help lead to more positivity with your team. A win-win.

Dr. Perna is a breath of fresh air in this episode; you won’t want to miss it!

Episode resources:

Follow Dr. Perna on Instagram

Listen to episode 261, Associate to Owner, Taking the Leap

Listen to episode 320, Plans Derailed? Here’s What to Do.

Listen to episode 388, 3 Tips to Be a Rockstar Associate

Reach out to Kiera

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The right handoff can go such a long way. In this episode, Tiff and Dana break down why handoffs are so important for patients, how handoffs can extend from chairside to checkout, and the best way to know if your practice’s communication with patients and each other is working effectively.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Tiff and Dana

Virtual Consulting

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Transcript:

The Dental A Team (46:09.582)

Hello everyone. We are back with some actual implementable things because I have my systems girl here. You know, I say it all the time. Dana, thank you for being here. Thank you for being such a rock star with everything you do. Honestly and truly you create so much content for this company. You create so much stuff for your clients on the daily. And a lot of what we put out there is from your brain. So thank you for being here. I truly think you're brilliant and you are such an asset to this company.

You've been all over the place lately. I feel like I we like cross paths. We were almost in the same place at the same time. A couple weeks ago when you were in Florida, you've been to Florida, you've been to Virginia. I don't even know you've had inclement weather. Where have you even been the last couple of weeks? I feel like it's like we're in the world of Carmen Sandiego. That's my daily. Yeah, I know. Where am I now? Let's see. Yeah, there was one week where I was in five states, all four time zones in a week.

So I've been in, let's see, Alabama, Iowa, Indiana, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina.

The Dental A Team (47:19.214)

Yeah, I think that's it. Wow. Yeah, that's a lot. That's like dip travel right there. Yeah. That's insane. March gets crazy, right? I don't know why. March gets wild. Every year for me, March is insane. So weird. Yeah. Well, we crossed paths a few times then because I was, I haven't been to North Carolina yet this year. No, I can't even remember. Yeah, I was. I was North Carolina in March. Yeah.

like this feels so long ago now. So I was in North Carolina, Alabama. Airlines stuck there. But yeah, we were there. Oh, that's right. Oh my gosh, you were stuck there. I should we should have called it. We should have called Jeff Andrew and just gotten you a night. So North Carolina we crossed that we would have crossed like at some point, Indiana and Alabama and I flew out of Florida when I was in Alabama. Yeah. Insane. So thank you for being such a road warrior. We get

such insane results and the feedback from your clients is always just so, so cool to see. And I know you don't go on the road of time because you do a lot of our virtual consulting. We have a ton of virtual clients. So Dana, Dana works one -on -one with most of them. But then we've got our other virtual clients that do kind of that group status that they're loving it. But I know when you are on the road, it's like once a quarter or so, and it's like slam together. So.

Huge, huge thank you for everything you do. I know your clients love it. And the dental team definitely, definitely loves it. So thank you. Now, one piece I know I always work on in practice because it's the best space to see it is that handoff, right? And increasing case acceptance with a good handoff. So Dana, you were on the road recently. I know you got to see a lot of things. One,

how do you feel like the handoff increases case acceptance? What does that look like? And then two, what are some things that you saw while you were on the road recently? Yeah, well, one, I think it's, I want you to recognize I see a lot of times in offices handoffs are done behind the scenes, okay? And the way that a handoff can help increase case acceptance is the patient actually hearing it.

The Dental A Team (49:35.342)

So I think we do a great job of, you know, hey, Dr. Smith, this is what's going on with this patient. This is what they said. This is their chief complaint. This is what we talked about, right? And we do it behind the scenes and you can do that. But where it really helps increase case acceptance is when the patient actually hears it. They're part of that conversation. And where I feel like it helps to build that is it's the trust and the relationship. When I say something and then I hand it off to you and then you back that up.

Right, that builds trust. There is something to be said for like shock dentistry in that like, I'll play the hygienist, right? I'm familiar with that role. And it is a patient just spent 40 minutes with me. And then the doctor comes in and doctor has five minutes. Well, if the doctor comes in and starts saying, you know, you need this treatment, or I see this area of concern, or I see this, and I haven't said anything, right? Well, it not necessarily is on purpose, right? Or that the patient starts to build distressed.

on purpose, but in their mind, right, it's I just spent 40 minutes with in and she didn't say any of that. And so now the doctor comes in and I'm a little bit shocked that there's something going on. And then I started my head to be like, well, do I really need that? Because she didn't see it. And she didn't say anything. Right. And now doctor comes in and I'm a little bit surprised. And I'm starting to doubt. And so when patients feel surprised by things when patients don't actively hear themselves,

it starts to downgrade the trust that we just worked really hard to build. Yeah, yeah, totally agree. I love that. I love that. So you're thinking or speaking on even like chair side handoffs. And I do agree, I think, and I used to do that as an assistant, I'd run back and I'm like, talk to me, these are all the things that you need to know, right? And then we'd walk in together and you'd start talking. But in consulting, I've noticed the same thing. And I think you can do both.

I don't think that we're saying not to do behind the scenes, because oftentimes too, there are some things that need to be said that the patient shouldn't hear, that they need to be prepped on personality or something that was embarrassing that they told you that they don't want to hear again, right? There are things that need to be prepped behind the scenes, but having that conversation and seeing it over the patient solidifies it. So if you're co -diagnosing, right? So you should be talking to the patient and saying like, these are things I'm seeing.

The Dental A Team (51:58.83)

call it doctor knows the doctor is taking a close look at it. While he or she is looking at everything. So you're kind of they call it like pre heating or co diagnosing, you're making sure the patient's warmed up. And then when doc comes in, saying those things again, right. And then they're like, Oh, she didn't forget that must actually, that actually needs to be addressed, right. Then doc's like, Oh, gosh, did you guys talk about that? And the patient's like, Yeah, yeah, she kind of, you know, she'd let me know that this is what it looks like. And now doctors diagnosing it.

And that patient's heard it now three times, at least by the time he gets the diagnosis, right? So one, I think making sure that it's said over the patient is huge. And two, you guys have to think about how many times it takes somebody hearing something before they're ready to believe you, right? We're very skeptical humans, okay? And we are sold at it every corner. I tell a lot of my practices, look at your phone, open up your Instagram, open up your TikTok, like every other thing.

Every other, I feel like every third TikTok I go through is a sale. Like they're trying to sell me with something. And how many times have we heard, um, I bought this off, I bought this from TikTok or because of TikTok, right? So we're constantly being sold to and we're primed to say no. So we have to get over that. We're in the back of our minds when somebody says something, this happened to me. I was in the dentist chair and he's like, Oh, you got, you got something over here. We need to redo these fillings. And I was like, Oh, I don't think I do. I'm a dental consultant. And I was like, I don't think I do. Right.

And then he never said anything to me about it, the high dentist, right? So then I, you know, get my second opinion at a practice that I consult. And he's like, no, you got it. You're missing a piece of the filling here. And I'm like, are you kidding me? That's what it was. Like, I didn't believe this other doctor. And I didn't trust them just because I'm a skeptical human being. And I was like, I think I would know if I needed a filling. No, I wouldn't. I'm not in my mouth. This is a dental consultant. It means nothing.

But I'm a skeptical human being when it comes to things like that. Now you tell me Dana comes on here and tells me I need a new protein powder, a new pair of shoes that I'm going to run in a couple of times. Some new leggings, some new Lulu. She's like, guess what Lulu just came out with? This new scuba jacket that Costco has that's not Lulu, but like it. Guess who's buying all of those things. But you tell me I need a filling. I'm like, a couple hundred dollars. I don't know about that. I think you're lying. No, that's who we are by nature.

The Dental A Team (54:24.238)

So this handoff, right? Hearing it multiple times solidifies the fact that it actually needs to be done. And the patient's like, okay, okay, okay, now I understand. Now I've heard it so much too that I'm comfortable enough to ask questions. I'm comfortable enough to say, how come I didn't notice that? Like, what should I have noticed? Right? What could I have done to prevent this? How can I make sure this doesn't happen again? Now I'm more comfortable.

to ask more questions. So that chair side handoff is huge. And then Dana, I know you train a lot on the chair side, but then after that, you train a lot on making sure that the handoff continues. And we don't have to go into super detail, you guys. There is, we call it NDTR, Next Visit Date Time Retire. It's probably at least one, maybe 16 podcasts that talk about NDTR. So if you go to our website, you go to the podcast spot, or I think you can do it in your iTunes app as well, or whatever it is, the podcast app.

If you search NDTR, guarantee it'll pop up or handoff, all of those will pop up. So we're not going to go super into DTEL because we've done it a million times. But Dana, that handoff for even checkout, right? Support staff to support staff, my dental assistants and hygienists to my front office. I feel like that builds trust in the patient again, because they're hearing it again, you guys. Statistics years ago said they needed to hear it seven times. I think this year I saw a stat that said 13.

I don't think we're ever going to hit 13. Please don't. I don't, I actually don't want you to, but five to seven times, I think it's probably pretty key. So they're hearing it again. But then Dana, I also feel like when I forced those handoffs, right. Or when I was in my dental practice here in town and I forced my hygienist to have that handoff with me and my dental assistants, I felt like my relationship with them increased because I was talking to them so much during the day. I was more comfortable as a team member with my team.

and having more conversations with them on a personal level that increased our relationship. So it wasn't even just helping the patients, helping the patients relationship, but it's helping our relationship. And so Dana, I feel like maybe you agree or disagree or think it's maybe not as important, but I feel like if that relationship between you and I is ramped up because you're constantly talking to me at checkout, our patients experience is more positively impacted.

The Dental A Team (56:47.31)

impacted because our relationship is so tight. So how do you, what do you think about that? And how do you train practices to do something like that? Absolutely 100%. I always use Jeremy, my husband as an example from this during COVID. He had like, pretty bad heart side effects that like were super concerning. He had called cardiologists for an emergency appointment, right on the phone. They're like, Hey, are you having pain? Okay, we'll bring you in for an emergency. So he gets there and he checks in and she's like,

Oh, I see you're here for an emergency. Are you having any pain? And he's like, Yeah, I am. So then the medical assistant comes out and gets him and he's like, Hey, you know, you're here for an emergency. Are you having pain? And he's like, Yep. And he's like, well, rate your pain. So he says, you know, nine, then they're walking back in the person seating and is like, Hey, you know, are you having pain today? And he's like, for the love of everything, like, yes, right. And I remember him turning to me and being like, I don't think I want to be here because these people don't seem like they know what they're doing. And because I do what I do for a living, I'm like,

Well, no, I'm sure that they do, right? Like this person is gone and is a certified cardiologist. These people have degrees. I'm sure that they do. It's just, it feels like no one is talking and no one is on the same page. And 100 % it immediately flipped the trust to be gone. And so I think we have to look at Kandos as continuity of care and patients want to feel like...

Team members are communicating and team members are all on the same page when it comes to their care. And handoffs are the easiest way to form that. And to form that truly, right, we need that communication from team member to team member to make sure that we aren't missing anything, that we aren't dropping the ball, that we have passed on that information and we are treating our patients to the best of our ability because we can communicate.

And so I always use it as an example because I don't think we necessarily catch that breakdown, right? And like, we're all doing our parts and we're asking, right? They were all asking and making sure, you know, we knew he was in pain, but when no one was communicating in the office, his trust instantly fell to the point where he considered walking out of the appointment. Yeah. To his own health, like,

The Dental A Team (59:02.062)

I don't know where to use that, right? Like his health is on the risk, like you guys, this is not being downplayed whatsoever. This was a very scary situation in Dana's life. And for him to be to the point of distrust where he was in a really bad situation, he needed that appointment and he needed multiple appointments, but he needed that appointment for him to be in a space where it was like, I don't feel safe here because I don't trust them. I'd rather go somewhere else. He needed to be somewhere in that moment. He didn't have

He didn't have time to go other places. Like he didn't have that. So for that to have pushed him that far in a space of emergency, think about the spaces where it's not an emergency and patients can casually make that decision, right? When they leave. So I totally agree. I think that's huge. And that is such a good way to frame it and brings it to reality, right? So that trust is huge.

you guys having conversations like you guys being friendly with one another and repeating information talking about the patient with the patient, right? Talking about the patient with the patient there makes a huge difference. So I think those are huge. I think handouts are everywhere. I tell my practices constantly. You have a chair side handoff, you have a checkout handoff for sure. You have a handoff every time someone new is entering.

the space of communication with your patient. If your patient's gonna be working with someone else, if you're a dental assistant and you're assisting and someone else is gonna take over so you can go trim that model, right? So you can go deliver the retainer or the denture that someone else can't do. You should be introducing that assistant as that assistant comes in. Your patients should be aware of what's going on and there should be a handoff every time there's gonna be another support team member having communication.

with that patient, you should be transferring it. And a lot of practices, right, we'll call that the trust transfer or transfer of trust or transfer of care. That's all it is. You guys should make sure that no matter what your patients feel comfortable, confident, secure, and that they trust the situation because they can see that your communication is top notch. A lot of practices are doing things like this. And again, if you're doing the behind the scenes one, do them both. Just move it to in front of the patient too, in a way.

The Dental A Team (01:01:24.174)

right? That's not so rushed or hurried or short or negative sometimes, right? Do it in a way that the patient should hear it. So, careside handoffs in front of the patient, Dana said, and then that checkout handoff to the TC, checkout, filler, whoever's sitting there taking the patient at the end of the appointment, they could have a handoff as well. My biggest action item for these, Dana, I love role play. Do you love role play? Yeah, I love role play with these because we don't always know

what we sound like. And a lot of times, we're like, I do that. I do that already. I hear this constantly. I do that already. Totally. Let's tweak it a little bit. Let's tweak it a little bit. Let's see what we can tweak to get a different result. Role play it, record it, watch it back. Put people in those positions who aren't normally in that position.

so that you can hear how it is, so that they know how it should go, so that everyone knows how to do this. Have a front office person do a chair -side handoff, right? Now they understand you're gonna get more comfortable in your handoff when you're comfortable in someone else's handoff that you're not actually touching. So role play, okay, get it down, role play it, role play it some more, and then role play it again, and make sure you put it in action. Handoffs will increase case acceptance, you guys. When a patient trusts you,

When a patient trusts where they're at, when a patient has heard it multiple times, they are more willing to get the treatment done. They are more willing to say, yeah, you're right, I do need that. I got the treatment done by the second guy who told me because I heard it again. He confirmed it. Had the high dentist said it and the doctor confirmed it, may have been a different situation, I'm not sure. But I had a doctor say it and I was like, I don't know. And then I had a doctor confirm it and I said, yeah, you can do it. Okay? So.

Go do the things, go role play, get your handoffs in check, care side, and that checkout handoff. Let us know how it goes.hello@thedentalateam.com and go search the podcast. Again, it's NDTR or handoff. It's all in there guys. It's all in there and reach out to us hello@thedentalateam.com. Let us know how it goes. Let us know if you need more information. If you want the NDTR sheet, I'm sure we can send it over to you. And don't forget to drop us a five -star review. Share some love with Dana. They have.

The Dental A Team (01:03:42.062)

come out on the other side, thankfully, but that story is very true, you guys. It's a very heartfelt situation, and we're just so happy to have both of you here with us, Dana. So thank you, everyone. Good luck. Let us know how it goes. We'll see you next time.

Rereleasing one of DAT’s most popular episodes!

Did you know there’s a direct correlation between a perfect handoff and your case acceptance? Kiera explains in this episode, sharing perspectives from both doctors and hygienists. Remember the ICRP method? She touches on that, and gives pro tips on upping that case acceptance through handoffs.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera

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Transcript:

The Dental A Team (00:05.806)

Hey everyone, welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. I'm your host, Kiera Dent, and I had this crazy idea that maybe I could combine a doctor and a team member's perspective, because let's face it, dentistry can be a challenging profession with those two perspectives. I've been a dental assistant, treatment coordinator, scheduler, filler, office manager, regional manager, practice owner, and I have a team of traveling consultants where we have traveled to over 165 different offices coaching teams. Yep, we don't just understand you, we are you.

Our mission is to positively impact the world of dental. And I believe that this podcast is the greatest way I can help elevate teams, grow VIP experiences, reduce stress, and create A -Teams. Welcome to the Dental A -Team Podcast.

The Dental A Team (00:51.246)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and you guys. Happy day to you. I hope it's a great day. I hope you're having a ton of fun. I just hope you're loving life. I really do. And if it's a rough day, just know I'm giving you a virtual hug. It's going to be all right. Things always work out. I had somebody ask me the other day, said, Kiera, why is life so hard? I said, life is hard because we're not willing to accept that maybe our life looks different than what we were planning on it looking like. It's hard because we're resisting what's actually happening.

I've had that. I've had my whole identity shaken. I've had just some rough, rough things in life. And I think all of us have. I think that that's what makes us human. But I think at the end of the day, when you can look at life and say, you know what? I choose to love life. I choose to be happy. I choose to see the best in this. I choose to accept that life is happening for me and not to me. That's when a perspective changes and all of us have that opportunity. So I hope.

I hope that today is just a good day for you. hope that you choose that perspective to see that life is happening for you and not to you. It's growing you where you ultimately want to grow. It's pushing you. might not feel great, but it's pushing you where you ultimately want to go. All right. That's Kiera just a little like, hey, sending you some love in this world. So today's topic is nothing to do with that.

all about hygiene handoffs and why they're important to case acceptance. Yep. Super sexy, exciting. I hope you're ready. I hope you're just like, yep, let's do this. but hygiene handoffs guys, don't think we realize how much the hygiene department impacts case acceptance. Hi, Jenis, you are awesome. You help us so much. I, you guys, we've done quite a few podcasts around the hygiene department. So today we're going to dive into the hygiene department even more so. And with this hygiene department, first of all, we've done, what would doctor do?

And I just had somebody reach out and ask me, how do we really get this? What would doctor do? We just did a podcast on it. you've got to block it in your schedule. I recommend doing it for four weeks and I recommend doing it case study wise. So round Robin. And if you don't know what the heck I'm talking about, go listen to that podcast, but that's just kind of a follow -up. Somebody reached out, asked me how to do this and then make sure that your doctors. Doctors, I've got to give you a huge tip on this. Please don't try to make our life hard like you did in dental school.

The Dental A Team (03:06.19)

We understand that every FMX has about 75 ,000 different treatment plans that you all dentists will create. We understand that. What we need to know in this, what would doctor do exercise is what you normally will diagnose. I understand that that tooth might be a filling. It might be a crown. It might be a root canal. It might be an implant and it might be a bridge. I'm well aware of that, but please doctors for everything lovely and awesome in life, just tell us.

one simple thing that you normally will diagnose. understand you might go rogue. I understand it won't always be perfect and I'm not expecting you to be perfect. What I'm asking is that you give the hygienist and the clinical team an opportunity to feel confident teeing treatment up for you because that's most of the time what you're going to diagnose. We're going to give you a five to 10 % change. That's fine. You still have that, but please, like I said, for everything, holy, lovely, and good in this life, just choose one diagnosis for us.

That's your general go -to diagnosis. We're not putting you in dental school. You're not being graded on the boards. We just need your basic one so we can win and we can teach treatment up for you. Otherwise, if you make it too hard, we say, forget it. We don't want to do this. It's too hard. They're always going to change their treatment plan. They're never going to treatment plan what they, what we think they're going to. So forget it. They can do it all on their exam time. Your case acceptance will be lower. Your patient experience will be lower and doctors, you don't have any help. So that's just my.

I got on a little soap box for you, but I'm advocating for our teams and advocating for our doctors on this one. see both perspectives. So doctors just give us your normal go -to on that FMX. That way we can start to win and help you out as well. So then next is this handoff. We've talked about the I crap handoff. So when doctors come in, we introduce the patient, let them know if they've met them or not. Compliment the patient. They're doing great on their flossing. We give a recap of the treatment we've already discussed. Hashtag teed up.

And we do a personal note. We do it in that exact order as well. Reason being, if I say something personal, the doctor can then pick that up and they have an immediate connection with the patient. Exam time drastically reduces. So those are all things that we've already discussed on other podcasts. Again, if you haven't heard them, go listen to them. Alex is amazing. She links all these in the show notes so you guys can just quickly click on those other podcasts. Shout out to Alex. She's amazing. She's the wizard behind.

The Dental A Team (05:25.994)

the keyboard for us that makes all of our show notes amazing and she makes your guys' life real easy. So with that said, next up is going to be these handoffs. So Hygienist giving that really awesome iCrap handoff, sorry it's the worst acronym but you won't forget it, to your doctor when they enter the room. Now some doctors are like, so Hygienist you gotta be on it. I hope you hear me snapping in the background. like, as soon as they walk through that door, you roll into your handoff.

A lot of people say, but cure, I want to go tell my doctor outside of the room. Fine. That's totally fine. You can team up outside of the room, but in front of the patient, you've got to have this handoff. Otherwise doctors got to go through the whole spiel. they've also did with something missed. That patient doesn't know what was being discussed. It brings the patient into the conversation versus the patient just watching the movie versus being an active participant in it. Get your patient to actively be engaged, get them involved in.

Like call your perio numbers out or your probing numbers out, help them co -diagnose with you. Have them look at x -rays with you. Have that patient be an active participant in the procedure versus a passive participant in the visit, if you will. So then doctors and hygienists, two pro tips that we've discussed before is getting them to say yes to you before we even present treatment. So, hey, can I put your bib on? Yes.

Can I lean you back? Yes. Getting them to do it versus saying, okay, now I'll lean you back. Having that patient have autonomy and getting them to say yes throughout your procedure is actually teeing them up to want to say yes for treatment. Psychological guys, I had my whole undergrad in psychology and I love it. And I had a hygienist email me and she's like, Kiera, I tried this. My floor at acceptance is a hundred percent. Rock on. Shout out to you. You know who you are. You emailed me and I loved hearing it. It was so cool. So with that,

Now doctors in the room, we do the treatment plan. Doctor gives a perfect handoff back to the hygienist. All right, it's Kiera. We want to get you back. So doctor is talking to the patient while giving the information to the hygienist. Do you see that triangle? I hope you do. Doctor talks to the patient. That way the hygienist hears what needs to happen. Patient is an active participant versus being just a silent listener. This way we have a perfect handoff. So then doctor gives the perfect handoff. Hey, all right, Kiera. So it looks like we've got some treatment that we want to get done.

The Dental A Team (07:49.762)

The great news is you're in good hands and we're going to get your mouth healthy. We're going to do this really easy for you. Doctors, tee up some, some confidence there. Okay. I'd like to get you back in about two weeks. We'll start on that upper right. We'll get that crown and that filling done. I know that was your biggest concern. Don't worry. We'll get that taken care of that way. You can eat again. I'd like to see you back in about two weeks and I'll need about two hours for that appointment. What questions do you have for me? I didn't say, you have questions? I said, what questions do you have for me?

nothing. think I'm good. Fantastic. I can't wait to see you back. You're in great hands. Rachel, are your hygienist? She's going to take great care of you, get you scheduled back for that. Beautiful. Doctor, you did so many great things on that. You told us what they're coming back for. You gave us a timeframe of when they're coming back for it. You told us how much time they need. You edified the hygienist and you gave them confidence that you are a rock star dentist and they're in great hands. High five docs. That is something we need from you. Then we loop. Hygienist, you've just been edified. You've been given the information.

Your job now is to take that information and either schedule right then if you're, if that's your practice protocol or take them upfront with that exact information. This handoff is paramount. I can't tell you when I'm in offices, I sit as a little fly on the wall watching everything go on. I hear this awesome handoff from doctor. I see our hygienist write it down on the route slip or wherever you choose to write it, message it, whatever you choose to do in your practice. I'm big on having something that has to be filled in so we don't miss these boxes.

Then we walk up front and we're like, okay, front desk. Here we go. Cure is ready to go. We'll see you later. Cause you're busy and you're behind and you don't even say anything that doctor just said to you. Darn it. We just lost an opportunity right there. So now the front office is like, okay, we'll see you later. And then they're like, did you get them scheduled back? No, I didn't even know they had treatment. So this handoff hygienist is crucial and you guys are the best of the best of the best at it.

or you're the worst of the worst. It's one of the two. So let's get you to be the best of the best at this. So that's why I like a route slip. That's why I like something that's written. I don't care how you do it. You can use a reusable route slip. You can use a blue note message. I don't care, but it has to be a template of those items. Otherwise it gets messy and sloshy. The goal should be that this patient knows exactly what they're coming back for, when they should come back and how much time they need to come back for. I promise you, if you will do this handoff.

The Dental A Team (10:13.42)

and make it your own, that's fine. I don't care how you do it. I don't care. I just care that you get these key pieces in it. If you will do this, your case acceptance will be increased. We won't have patients slipping through the crack and we'll be able to give them the best dental care possible. So then going up front, you literally say exactly what, what doctor said, Hey friend office, this is Kiera. So doctor did find some treatment on her and the great news is she's an awesome hands and doctor's going to do amazing work with her.

Doctor would like to get her back for the upper right for that crown and that filling. That's what she was mostly concerned about. Doctor would like to see her in two weeks for about two hours. I've already got her cleaning scheduled. And Kiera, what questions do you have for me? I've got nothing. Thanks so much. Awesome, Kiera. You are in great hands with the front office. Say their name. They're going to take amazing care of you. And I can't wait to see you back at your next cleaning. Hi, Jenice. You take off and right there front office. Just got the handoff to pick it up to schedule perfectly from there.

So hygienists do this, you edified the front office, you told them that they're great. So you left this patient in great hands. You also re -edified our doctor, reminding them that they're at the best place possible and you gave all the information. So now it's easy to schedule. Hygienists, you are a pivotal piece. You are like a cornerstone in this formula. You're the one who gets the information from the patient to hand off to the doctor. You're the one who gets the information from the doctor to hand off to the front office. You are literally this hinge between doctor, front office, doctor and patient.

you hinge into areas that are pivotal to the patient experience and the patient success. So try it out. Listen back to this podcast, deep dive on it, role play. I can't wait to hear it. You guys are going to do incredible. Hi, Janice. You are paramount and so, so, so valuable in these handoffs. So try it out. Let us know how it goes. And if you guys need help, we do this in practices. We role play it with you guys via zoom or in person and help you guys really dial this verbage in because at the end of the day,

I believe great case acceptance comes from great verbiage. It's all about our confidence and it's about the way we say things, making it easy for patients to say yes. All right guys, as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.

The Dental A Team (12:22.505)

wraps it up for another episode of the Dental A Team podcast. Thank you so much for listening and we'll talk to you next time.

Hiring is hard in general, but right now, there seems to be a hygienist drought. In this crossover episode, Kiera talks with Grace Rizza of the Dentistry’s Growing with Grace podcast about how dental practices can face hiring shortages, perfect the dynamics of your practice’s culture, and what the future of dental hygiene looks like.

Other topics Grace and Kiera chat about:

• How long it takes for practices working with the Dental A-Team to see positive effects

• The one service DAT provides that doctors don’t think they need

Episode resources:

Listen to Dentistry’s Growing with Grace

Connect with Grace

Listen to episode #347, Common Dental Marketing Mistakes

Reach out to Kiera

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Visit The Dental A-Team website

Review the podcast on iTunes

Scott Haberman and Jon Stanfield of Eide Bailly are on the podcast to talk about improving the profitability of your dental practice. Whether you hate numbers or not, it’s your moral obligation to know the details of your practice to make smarter decisions for your patients. This episode is absolutely one to bookmark. Scott and Jon talk with Kiera about the following:

• Standardizing chart of accounts — including where to start

• Employee retention credits — timelines, how to qualify, where to start

• Audits

• Key metrics a practice should watch

These can be intimidating topics, but Jon and Scott offer great insight into how Eide Bailly can help your practice, whether it’s getting on its feet or a seasoned veteran.

Episode resources:

Email Scott: shaberman@eidebailly.com

Email Jon: jstanfield@eidebailly.com

Listen to episode 281: Tax Advantages You’re Missing Out On

Reach out to Kiera

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Review the podcast on iTunes

Kiera breaks down the difference between these two positions that are game-changing in the best way. She talks about tips to hiring, what to consider for assigning tasks, and more.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera

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Review the podcast

Folks, it’s time to start wrapping up this year and prepping for next. Kiera talks about how to put a bow on 2023 through three steps:

1. Assess the year

2. Review each department

3. Set goals for 2024

Beyond that, she encourages offices to seek ways to maximize efforts and exponentially grow next year, and gives ideas on how to go about that.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Review the podcast

In this short episode, Kiera and Mark jump right into what makes a valuable office manager. Mark explains how the manager should be trusted to fulfill all of their job duties, but also not to be afraid to think of 3-5 practical solutions for problems that arise. 

Kiera welcomes Donna Dinette who emphasizes the simplicity of getting a 97-98% return rate on your insurance claims! It is all about knowing what the insurance companies want as well as being sincere and confident when speaking with your patient.

Kiera gives three easy steps to help your practice flourish as one by giving your team members the following:

1. Your trust to know they’ll do their tasks well

2. Autonomy to make decisions

3. Consistency with expectations

If you want help in building up your team, reach out to the Dental A-Team!

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera 

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Review the podcast

It’s time for another book club review! In this episode, Kiera reviews Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear. She touches on the creation of systems to reach our goals; how true behavior change happens; the power of out of sight, out of mind; and more.

Check out the full list of DAT’s 2023 book club here.

Episode resources:

Listen to episode 652, Introducing the DAT Book Club

Reach out to Kiera 

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Review the podcast

Spiffy Tiffy is giving advice gathered and perfected from hundreds of dental offices on how to track and control your budget and supply flow. The tips she shares in this episode will help your office implement a tracking system that is key to making supply acquisition more efficient and ultimately cheaper.

Episode resources:

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This quickie episode has billing guru Tiffanie Trader discussing with Kiera insurance and patient AR, plus tips to not get your insurance AR quite as high... Continue Reading...

That’s 80%, folks. 80% of your treatment should be scheduled in the back office. Tiff and Dana talk all about scheduling in this episode — the importance, the successes that come, and how to go about implementing.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Tiff and Dana: hello@thedentalateam.com 

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As it turns out, the fanciest equipment or prettiest real estate doesn’t equal the best dental practice. What does? The people who work there! In this episode, Kiera talks human capital and how it leads to a positive culture. Some food for thought to up the positivity in your own place of work:

• Think of people as solutions rather than problems

• Celebrate others’ wins

• Check in regularly

Investing in your people equals investing in your culture equals investing in your business!

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera

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This podcast episode is all about changing definitions — instead of failing, we’re learning. Kiera shares insight on how to view our life lessons as a win, and mentions books and inspiring people that’ll help you shift your mindset to learn every single day.

Episode resources:

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Happy 2 Year Birthday to Dental A Team Podcast! This VERY podcast you’re listening to is two years old TODAY!

To celebrate, we’re reflecting on the journey we’ve been on to get this far, and invite you to do the same! Reflect on your past two years. Who did you want to be and where did you want to go two years ago today? Are you on or off track? As Kiera’s therapist once said: Goals are stars to guide by, not sticks to beat ourselves with.

Thank you for staying on this journey with us. Relive our best podcast moments at www.TheDentalATeam.com! And please subscribe and review as a birthday present to us :)

We did it! We made it to 100! Thanks to everyone who’s ever listened to this podcast, for showing us that you’re here and you’re listening and you’re part of our A-Team...Continue Reading...

The people have spoken: Office autopsy episodes are our listeners’ favorite! Kiera navigates an office that went from three operatories to 12 operatories with the Dental A-Team by its side. She shares tips for scheduling, how to set your practice apart, and the following three tangibles:

1. Start small; get your feet under you

2. Set up systems that work for both a small and large practice

3. Become scheduling masters

This office grew from $50,000 a month to $140,000! It’s one of Kiera’s best success stories.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Take our scheduling course

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

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It’s tee-time! Not for golfers, but for doctors! This episode is a dive into teeing up doctor treatment. By mastering this practice, you’re creating less stress for your team AND improving your patient experience. In fact, teeing up things for doc gets your patients more likely to accept treatment!

Kiera explains how to get everyone on the same page of “what would doctor do?” She also talks about the SEVEN different times your patient will hear about his or her treatment.

Tee things up right and everyone’s life will be easier.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera

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Kiera is joined by Dr. Jenny Perna to discuss steps associate doctors can take to be A+ — three specific steps, in fact, to get you there.

1. Be a leader (listen to episode 367 to hear Dr. Perna’s thoughts on leadership without a title)

2. Think like an owner (learn more about the business side!)

3. Advance your skill (do right by your patients and seek out continuing education)

Taking these tasks on separates the wheat from the chaff, showing who is truly committed to the practice of dentistry. Dr. Perna also shares the benefits she’s seen in her own life from functioning as a rockstar associate.

Episode resources:

Follow Dr. Perna on Instagram

Listen to episode #367: How to Lead Without a Title

Listen to episode #320: Plans Derailed? Here’s What to Do.

Reach out to Kiera

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Review the podcast on iTunes

In this short, but juicy episode, Kiera gives practical advice about finances, treatment planning, and scheduling. She poses the question, “If dentistry was free, what would you recommend for treatment?”

Podcast listeners, meet Dana; Dana, meet podcast listeners!

Dana is the Dental A-Team’s newest traveling consultant, and she’s here to talk about her favorite systems to implement in offices … specifically treatment tracking! Dana and Kiera chat about the best process for treatment tracking, plus how to get team members excited about it. The takeaways:

1. Get buy-in from the team

2. Track things manually

3. Tie it to the bigger picture

Treatment tracking is a long-game effort that’s totally worth it. Start tracking things today!

Episode resources:

Reach out to Dana and Kiera

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Review the podcast on iTunes

An organizational chart! In this episode, Tiff and Dana talk about the numerous benefits that come out of establishing an org chart in your practice. This document will make it easier to on-board, re-train, bring about a sense of clarity for all positions, and more. The consultants touch on the what, the why, and the how to perfect the accountability found through an org chart.

Episode resources:

Reach out to The Dental A Team: hello@thedentalateam.com 

Kiera walks listeners through five steps to understanding a profit and loss statement:

1. Know the structure

2. Follow the revenue streams

3. Track your spending

4. Calculate the ratios

5. Set financial goals

Episode resources:

Sign up for Dental A-Team’s Virtual Summit 2025!

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Schedule a Practice Assessment

Leave us a review

Transcript

Kiera Dent (00:03.726)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera. And today I just wanted to empower you with, if you're in the boat of struggling to understand your P &L, struggling to understand how to truly master your dental finances, you're not alone. This is common. This is what I'm obsessed with helping dental practices truly understand. And today I want to break it down into five simple steps to give you clarity, control, to really be able to understand your dental practice finances. So today,

I just wanted to let you know that when you understand your PNL, which is a profit and loss statement, it helps you just be able to know which metrics to move to understand how can I actually create better decisions to feel more empowered with my numbers. And so I want you just to know that there's five simple steps that I've learned that I wanted to bring to you to really help you understand this and to this year maybe embody the identity of I am a.

money master or I am a finance master or whatever it is where you really take control because at Dental A Team when we consult our practices we have hundreds of offices and we work virtually we work in person we work one-on-one we work group style but I found that like one of the biggest stressors for dentists is not understanding like how does the money work we understand the dental we don't understand the team per se front office is like I don't know but it's really like where is my money and how do I actually make my money work for me

And so understanding that, what does it mean to be profitable? We have overhead calculators, we have profitability scorecards for you that I really love helping our clients with. But really it's like, let me just break it down into the nuts and bolts. I am not a CPA. I will have that disclaimer out there. I just am going to break it down of like, how do I become a financial master? So today let's break it down into step one is understand the structure of your PNL. So a PNL is broken down into basically like our, our revenue, so our collections, and then our expenses from there.

and then that breaks it down into profit. Now, something that always gets a little funny is debt services. And if we've got loans or student loans or practice loans, sometimes those are associated with our P &L, other times they're not. And what we really care about as owners is cash, right? We want the cashflow, we wanna understand where that's at. And so if you understand that it's broken down into this where we've got money coming in, so those are our collections, we need to make sure our collections sit at 98%. So we produce, we collect money.

Kiera Dent (02:21.654)

those collections and then we spend money of our expenses. So payroll, rent, utilities, supplies, all of that paying you as a doctor as well. And then from there we have what's called our profit. And then after that we have our debt services and then that's our cashflow, but also cashflow then there's taxes that come out of it. And I think when you understand that instead of it being like, I don't have any money. We just understand that this is where it goes. And so if we're not tracked, if we're not tracking it, what happens is we're spending money.

We're spending more than we need. Like I had an office and they weren't tracking their supply spend. And so what happened is they were spending about 30,000 a month in one location. They're spending about $5,000 a month in another location. There's a discrepancy, but they didn't even realize that they were having this discrepancy until we started looking at their PNL. So once you start to monitor it, then we can actually get our supplies into more of like a 4 % of total collection. So if we're collecting a hundred thousand, 4 % of that would be $4,000. That's what we're allowed to spend for that month on supplies.

Well, now we have the budget. Now we can get it in alignment. We can actually track it and lean it down. Another officer looking at their P &Ls are doing it. They were at an 85 % overhead at the beginning of the year. By the end of the year, they were coming in at a 53 % overhead. So to me, it's just a math equation. One plus one equals two. How do we, we have money coming in, subtract the things we spend. We have profit leftover from there. We have our debt services and our tax that gives us our true cash at the end of it. So then number two is we got to focus on

What are the ways that we actually bring production and collections to the practice case? We've got our PNL. We understand how that's broken down. I also want you to know there's a chart of accounts that you can change that up. But step number two is we've got to focus on the revenue streams or the production of how do we actually get money on the books to be able to collect that? Are we being profitable in that zone? So there's different ways that we do this. So like hygiene, restorative, ortho, cosmetic, like different ways that we do it. And some offices actually like to track this and break it down. And you can actually put this on your PNL.

You can literally put down how much production has come from restorative, how much production comes from hygiene, how much production comes from ortho, and then you can break down the collections that we have from that as well. So this is something really awesome to see how much of my practice is hygiene, how much of my practice is on implants or all on fours, how much of my practice is ortho. I have a pediatric practice and they really love to track their ortho amount of it because they want to see how much of their practice is truly ortho. Do we need to spend more marketing money there or do we not? This really helps you be able to see

Kiera Dent (04:45.64)

What services should we continue? Which ones are the highest revenue? Do we need to change our fees on it? Do we need to look at different ways to break this down? It's really, really, really fun. And so then I can look at what promos we put in the practice. Where do I put my blocks? What block scheduling do I need to have more of? What marketing do I need to spend to make sure we're getting the correct revenue or production streams of the correct patients? We're treatment planning it. We look at our treatment tracker to see, are we actually bringing this in? We can actually increase profitability without needing more patients if we follow this. So

A quick action item on that is maybe talking to your CPA about breaking down your revenue by services of what's coming into the practice to see where most of your income is actually coming from in the practice. Super enlightening when you start to look at this. Step three is now going to be looking at what we're spending. OK. And on the chart of accounts, if it's not broken down, you can ask your CPA to break it down. I've mentioned on prior podcasts that we were spending about fifteen thousand dollars on hiring once upon a time, but I didn't even know that's how much I was spending.

This last year, they had all of my marketing lumped into one. So I actually asked them to break it out. How much am I spending on the website? How much am I spending on events? How much am I spending on our ads that we're running? All these different little pieces, because I wanted to get more granular and understand where are the dollars going and what, if I spend a dollar, it coming back to me and what is it? So thanks for you on looking at your expenses. We usually have payroll, we have rent, we have supplies, we have labs, other things. We have our marketing, CE, consulting. We're going to want to look at

Maybe you have our associate doctors on there, but what are these different pieces and payroll? Oftentimes it's all the fringe benefits that go on to it as well. So making sure are the additional pieces of like our 401ks and our health benefits. What is all that going? Cause that does go into payroll. What's our payroll tax on that employee? Gosh, that was a fun day when I learned like what? So this also just helps you look at it. And then what we want to do is we want to look to see, there ways that we can cut costs? So going back to that example of cutting supplies,

Well, this office was just ordering through one supplier. There's companies like Ordo or Synergy or different group buying areas where you can still go through your same preferred vendor, but we can just get it on a discount rate. So for example, kind of like using Costco, like I can go and buy my, I thought Costco was ridiculous on their rotisserie chickens. Like they're $5 or I can go to Safeway and spend $9. I'm still getting a rotisserie chicken. It's just how much am I spending for it?

Kiera Dent (07:10.742)

Now I get that food's a little bit of a funny analogy because food is not equal across all stores. So let's do something a little bit easier. I could spend, you know, I can have my car insurance, like again, through Costco versus through someone else. We're just trying to get our reduced costs, still getting the same quality, but could we reduce those costs? Other times just giving a budget, me realizing that I'm spending 15 grand on hiring. Well, there's a great company called Viva HR. If you do Viva HR slash Dental A Team or just DM me or

email us Hello@TheDentalATeam.com literally spend $100 a month on unlimited ads. So took a $15,000 spend down to a $1,200 spend right there. I freed up over 10 grand. I mean, we're talking more like 13 grand that I was able to then save and allocate somewhere else just by switching that one thing. I'm still doing the same thing. I'm still posting the same ads. I just use Viva HR rather than spending it on indeed, but I never would have known that if I would have been tracking this.

So this is where can we look at it? So what I recommend, and we haven't broken down into percentages on our overhead calculator that we've created for our clients, but you wanna categorize your expenses and look for areas where we can cut unnecessary costs. And also what's the percentage of our total collections that we're collecting that we can actually minimize and make sure that we're with the alignment of what's recommended. So for example, like I said, supplies are usually at 4%. Payroll is between 25 to 30%. So making it get all the way down, but also,

Those percentages are just baselines. If you want more profitability, can we shave a half our percentage? Can we shave 1 % and still maintain the quality of our practice? That's a question for you to answer, but great ways to analyze this. So that would be action item on this is let's categorize your expenses, look to see where we can cut, look to see the percentages to make sure what is in there. Is it allocated correctly? Meaning did they put actual supplies in supplies or did I get labs in there as well so that when my numbers are wrong and what other ways can I change that?

Okay, step four is now we wanna calculate our ratios. So on that, we're going to wanna figure out like, what is our profit margin? What's our payroll ratios? Like I was saying of those percentages, this is now where we break it down. If I'm spending $10,000 on payroll out of 100,000, well, that's a great gig and I probably don't have enough people on there and I have space within, because I'm only at 10 % and I could go up to 30 % again, depending upon what I want my profit margin to be.

Kiera Dent (09:33.39)

I target with all expenses paid for offices to be a 20 or 30 % profit margin. So that means, cause overhead and profit get a little funny, overhead means all of our expenses, I like you to hit around a 50%. So if I've collected a hundred grand, I don't want you spending more than about 50,000. That leaves 50,000 here. We pay our doctors here. The goal is to leave about 20 to 30 grand if we're on this hundred thousand collection practice of true profit. Now of that profit, we, like I said, you can have debt services there and also taxes.

and depending upon the tax bracket you're in, that can actually make a pretty big difference. If I'm collecting 20 grand, I'm really not collecting 20 grand because I owe taxes on that. So that's a big asterisk around cashflow of how to master this and how to look at this, but making sure we're at the correct percentages for it to then gauge where are we at. So figure out what your, what our costs are, get them in in the pieces, and then figure out the percentages of each one of them, making sure that we're actually at the correct ratio.

of what it should be. In Dental A Team we're high on payroll because the bulk of our company is team. I don't have a physical location. I don't have a place that goes. Our product is our consulting. So my payroll is much higher than 30%. I pay a lot in payroll, but that's also, that's my product for you. have a lot of product in your practice of the supplies that go into it. We don't really have a lot of supplies that go into ours. I have a lot of software that I spend on. So everyone's going to be a little bit different, but we do have categories for dentists that we recommend.

Like I said, payroll 25 to 30 % supplies at 4%. Labs are 9 % combined together. Those are between 13 to 14%, especially if you're on an implant practice marketing. If you're growing, it can go all the way up to 5 to 7%. If you're lower, it should be a 2 to 3 % again, pending upon your goals and also pending upon where we want our profit margins to be. I really love my doctors to be paid at least a 30 % and they're also can get in to a little variable of do we pay our doctors as associates if you're an owner or not?

Kiera's opinion, and I know, like I said, I'm not a CPA. My opinion is I like to help practices exit out of the practice if they want to. Meaning, if you want to own your practice and not have it dependent upon you, that's what I like to grow for offices. So they have the option if they want to, or if any life circumstances happen, they're not handcuffed of, I don't have anything else I can do because I'm no longer practicing dentistry. To me, that's a very scary spot to be in. So what I do like to do is pay my dentist as an associate and as an owner.

Kiera Dent (11:56.386)

because that way if I ever want to replace my doctor, I already have on my P &L paying them as an associate, not just as an owner or actually taking $0, which often happens because of distribution. Now your CPA can help you advise on tax strategy because there are strategies of how much you quote unquote pay yourself. But the way we have it is we just break it down and you don't necessarily have to run it through payroll. We're just making sure that our P &L matches so we know how much profit we'd have if any life circumstances happen to you.

All right, and now step five for you. Step five is we wanna set financial goals and track our progress. So like I said, where are you wanting to be on your profit margin? Do you wanna be, where are we at baseline today and then where do you wanna get to? And then we look at the pieces for it. Just like on a family budget, if we say we wanna save for a car or we wanna save for Disneyland or we wanna go on a trip to the Bahamas, well, now we start to save and we start looking at our expenses of well, what could we eliminate? Maybe we don't need Netflix anymore. Maybe we don't need a DoorDash. Maybe we don't need internet. Maybe we need to...

add an extra job to it to be able to pay for this. But it's the same thing in a practice. If we want to have profitability or we want to have long-term financial success or we want to be set up for financial freedom, what do I need my business to profit to be able to go after it? And how do I look at this? So then we look for how can I increase my production of higher revenue generating pieces that we enjoy doing? Maybe All On X, maybe Ortho, maybe same day crowns, whatever it is for you, how can we add more of that to our schedule?

How can we decrease the expenses or be smarter instead of just paying straight through a supplier? Could we work with a bigger supply company, like I mentioned, kind of like Costco and get a discounted rate for that? Could I do that and save money on things I'm already buying? And then we're gonna wanna make sure we get those profit target margins, the percentages, based on the industry benchmarks, like I mentioned to you, to really be able to grow for this. And so it's really fun if we look at those little items,

It just becomes a shave of a half a percentage here, a 1 % there, a couple dollars here, increasing our production, using better block scheduling that really makes us where we then are tracking our progress. And it's really fun when you can get an office manager and a leadership team bought into this with you as well, which is why we share it on the podcast, because when they're all tracking and they're all aligned and we know what our profit margins need to be, it becomes much easier. And so if there was a practice,

Kiera Dent (14:17.262)

Like I said, we track with them quarterly, we're watching it they went from that 85 % overhead all the way down to 53%. Well, let me just do some simple math for you. Pretend that practice was only, let's say that they collected a million dollars that year, okay? So they did a million and that they were at an 85 % overhead. That would mean that on a million dollars, and let's say a million was true profit. So we've got a million, we've got 85 % overhead. That practice was collecting or like take home.

not including tax and all the other things, 150,000 out of a million. Now I understand. Now, if they're able to go, that was an 85 % overhead. If they go, so still a million dollar practice, down to 53 % overhead, what that does is that actually moves them into 530,000 is now their costs, right? Did you follow my math on that? 530,000. if they, and from there, so that means they're taking home 470,000.

That just simple shift, they didn't increase their production. They just reduced their expenses. Again, a million dollar practice, 150 to 470. That's a really big swing. You don't have to do anything more. We just had to be smarter with our dollars. So when you look at that and you think about that, that's where numbers get really fun for me. And that's where I love to empower doctors, leadership teams to how can we actually achieve this? So my goal for you would be let's set a financial goal for the next quarter.

Based on your P &L review, do we wanna cut down our supplies? Do we wanna increase our production? Do we wanna add our block schedules? What do we wanna do in there? Because this then will literally help you exponentially grow to your financial freedom. So as a quick recap of these five simple steps are one, understand the structure of your P &L. Two, focus on the revenue or production streams that we can add in. Three, analyze our expenses. Four, calculate the ratio. So again, the percentages of them and get those into industry standards.

And five, set financial goals to track the progress and actually see where we want to be. It's such fun for me because this is how you actually are able to exponentially have your business work for you. You not working for your business. You don't have to do more work. You don't have to more patient flow. None of those things. We just have to be smarter with how we're utilizing our money, how we're collecting collections, impact that how we're spending our money, making sure we've got budgets in place for our team. Teams will follow suit. We just need to get this set up for them. So this is where it's really fun. And honestly, you understanding your PNL.

Kiera Dent (16:43.158)

It allows you to just make informed decisions, increase your profitability, AKA take home pay and grow your dental practice. And then the next step of this will be how do we actually keep the money that we're making that becomes so fun. So I'm happy to go through this. If you guys want, I can go through a PNL piece with you. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com or go to our website and just book a call. We can do a practice assessment with you, totally free complimentary on my side because this is really where I love to just truly empower doctors and owners to take.

the like bull by the horns, you're already doing the dentistry. Let's have you now be compensated for that and do it in a fun way where you now feel like you were in financial control for yourself. So this is literally what the Dental A Team does in consulting. If this is helpful for you, you want one on one help, you want us to dive into your practice more in depth. Like I said, we have that complimentary assessment for you. Click the link or come work with us. I'd love to have you because this would really be a zone. You can DM us on social media, the Dental A team. So Dental A team is our hashtag.

or you can email us Hello@TheDentalATeam.com This is truly the zone though. Become a financial master this year. You will be so happy that you did this. This is a gift you can give yourself. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

This ones for the birds. Kiera compares dental practices to flying v formations: Do you have systems in place to make your days go smoothly? Is there a buddy system? A leadership team?

By having the right methods in place, your team can take the weight off one another’s shoulders and keep things smooth sailing.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Review the podcast on iTunes

This episode is a raw reflection by Kiera on the Little Black Dress Podcast with Dr. Ashley Joves (a cosmetic dentist). Nothing is off limits — Kiera shares her experience with eating disorders, a path to divorce, suicide consideration, IVF … all while building a business.

If you take anything away from this listen, know that you can create the you you want to be.

Episode resources:

Check out The Making of a Dental Startup

Listen to the Little Black Dress Podcast

Listen to episode 254, Breaking Dentistry Norms

Reach out to Kiera

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Review the podcast

Does running a mile relate to running a business? It sure does! In this solo episode, Kiera gives tips on effectively managing your time, whether you’re a doctor or a team member....Continue Reading...

This inspirational episode is one you’ll want to have on repeat. Kiera teams up with Cheryl Cornelius out of San Antonio, Texas to talk about peeling away the barriers in your life....Continue Reading...

So often practices over-complicate the creation of their mission statement. Tiff and Dana are here to walk listeners through how to simplify the process and keep it personal. It starts by answering three questions:

1. What is your ‘why’ in dentistry?

2. What makes you stand out?

3. How will you serve your community?

Tiff and Dana touch on how to make these questions easy to answer, and when to include your team’s perspective for feedback.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Tiff and Dana: hello@thedentalateam.com 

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Review the podcast

Kiera joins the Tale of Two Hygienists gang to talk team dynamics! That means getting your entire team to run together as a pack... Continue Reading...

With all the inspiration out there in the world (including this podcast), it can be challenging to execute the great ideas coming your way. In this episode, Kiera shares three steps to help you and your practice actually implement great ideas and methods to launch your goals forward.

1. Consume information and take notes about what inspires you

2. Calendar your goals out — remind yourself

3. Make it happen

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Give the podcast a 5-star review!

Holy cow, we’ve been doing this for an entire year! And what a year it’s been. Thanks to all of YOU for listening to us as we go through the ins and outs of being involved in a dental practice...Continue Reading...

Instead of dentistry tactics, Kiera talks about a human skill in this episode: kindness. Engaging with the public these days is more difficult than ever, but Kiera challenges listeners to go the extra mile. Easier said than done, sure — so she also covers filling your own bucket with self love. That way it’s easier to show that same kind of love to others.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Become Dental A-Team Platinum!

Review the podcast on iTunes

Bringing on an associate is a big move for any practices, and while the benefits fill out a long list, the way it’s done will have lingering impacts, for better or worse. Kiera gives three actionable tips on how to make the transition a smooth one for all involved.

1. Find an associate who fits your clinical and cultural model

2. Schedule a team meeting with the associate

3. Establish regular check-ups with doctor feedback

Episode resources:

Sign up for Dental A-Team’s Virtual Summit 2025!

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

Schedule a Practice Assessment

Leave us a review

Transcript

Kiera Dent (00:00.45)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera. And today, you guys, are you struggling to onboard a new associate without team tension? I know that this can be a tricky problem that a lot of our offices faces. And so these three steps will make the process smooth and successful. Honestly, onboarding an associate is such a critical piece. You're bringing on this new doctor, they already love you, they already know our existing team, and now we're bringing someone new in that's gonna help us help serve more patients. It's going to help our team be able to get those hygiene checks on time.

going to be able to help us expand our clinical suite. So whatever the reason for onboarding an associate, it oftentimes comes down to that team buy-in, not having the team tension, getting the patient retention. And so the goal is today, I'm going to walk you through really three simple steps for you to be able to onboard this associate with ease and success.

I am Kiera Dent. Dental A Team was created to really help give you guys wisdom and knowledge out in the field to have a trusted expert, someone who's been there, done that, done that successfully multiple times. Honest to goodness, our consultants are incredible. They really have real life experience. Every consultant on the Dental A Team has to have real life experience in the practice.

clinically and for an office. They've had to grow multiple practices exponentially. They've had to work through these kinks. So when we give you tips and advice is not because we're just here talking about theories and what we hope works. It's because we've been there, done that and done that successfully. Honestly, onboarding an associate is going to affect your long-term harmony. This is where it's going to be amazing for your team with harmony, but also productivity. And so today is going to be short, actionable episode. And honestly, you guys are going to want to wait till the end because I walk you through the three steps.

And then at the very end, I'm gonna wrap it up for you of exactly how you can do this with simplicity. So step one is you need to actually find an associate who fits your clinical and cultural model. This is really paramount because a lot of times we just want an associate. We just think, let's bring someone in. But what we forget is these patients have been coming to us as a clinician, as a practice, as a culture, and that's what we've actually built. So there's a lot about branding in other companies. Well, in your dental practice, you have to realize you as the dentist, you as your clinical skill set has actually been built.

Kiera Dent (02:08.034)

to be able to be a culture that your patients are accustomed to. So it's crazy because we just think we just need to hire an associate. No, actually looking to see are they clinically the same as you or adding to your skillset and also do they fit your cultural model. It's wild because if you'll just take the time to find this person who fits not being desperate but actually using the time to find them is really going to help. Now people ask me, Kiera, where actually can I go to find these associates because it can be tricky. And what I say is let's start talking with the community.

Talk to the dental colleges that are around you. Talk to your Henry Schein rep or your Patterson rep. Start talking to different offices because they might know someone. Get to the country club. A lot of deals have been made on golf courses that I've heard. Go to yoga studios, different places where people will be and start talking and networking and letting them know who you're looking for. Also let your team know, hey, we're looking for this. This is who we're looking for. Do you know anybody? Because your team can really be an advocate for you.

In addition to that, I like to build pipelines. So if you know family members that are going to dental college or you have friends, but somehow getting really intertwined into that, that dental college around you, in addition to being able to work with residencies and G, your, your practices that way, that's going to help you actually exponentially become stronger to get this pipeline of people there. So really looking for someone who fits your clinical and cultural model is going to help you exponentially because they're going to subscribe to the models like you do.

They're going to act like you do. They're going to have the feel of it. And really, like I said, this is all about your brand. And so it's interesting because I've actually seen there was an office that I consulted and what happened with them is they brought on an associate. They thought that they were great. They had the clinical skills that they needed, but culturally they weren't aligned and the hygiene team started to get frustrated because this doctor was actually not following protocol within the practice. So whenever the two different doctors came in,

the hygienist were trying to adapt to each different doctor, the exams weren't consistent, the treatment planning wasn't consistent. And yes, there will be varying shades of this, but really making sure that in the interviewing process, this associate aligns is actually gonna prevent that team tension in the future. So truly, before you hire, clarify what your core values are of your practice and the clinical expectations that you have before you even go out to hire. Now, if you already have someone, that's okay, there's still things that we can do.

Kiera Dent (04:25.88)

but really making sure that they're like almost this little perfect outline of what you're looking for because just like when we want to go buy a car, when we say, want to buy this G wagon or I want to buy this Toyota Corolla or I want to buy this Tesla. What happens is we start to see that car everywhere. Well, same thing's going to actually happen with your associates. When you know exactly what your crystal clear on, go for it. That's going to help you actually sift through and find the person that's going to work great for your practice.

Step number two is going to be once we get our associate, we know that they're going to be great. We need to actually have a team meeting and buy-in. Letting our team actually ask the questions because what happens is a lot of times the team tension just comes from fear. It's not that they don't want to onboard our associates. It's not that they don't want our practice to be successful. It's just fear. It's the, about this? What about that? What about my patience? And so what's going to happen is when we have an effective meeting with our team,

we're going to introduce the associate and their strengths, making sure we highlight why did we bring this person in specifically? What is it about them? Don't forget, this is about the branding, making sure that they're branded, making sure that they fit our brand of the company. And then we open up the floor of team questions and letting the team, like, what are your concerns? What do you think patients will feel? Because the more the team can air this out, the more we're going to be able to find solutions. And what I found is let's address them in, in person, in our meeting, but also have your office manager or a team member

actually take notes to where there's verbiage in their scripting because what we hear is not actually what we retain. And so just giving your team the tips and the tools of amazing, this is how Dr. Sarah is going to do a great job on our clinical experts or what's going to happen if they have redo treatment, what do we do then? And so that's really going to be able to help your team feel confident because now they've got the what happens when and here's the solution. And if you write that up, it's very simple.

This will help long-term and also we really want to like boost why this associate is going to be great for the practice. Now a question that you could also ask to follow up on this is what qualities do you think would help our new associate succeed here? Because these are also going to be things of what can we do to make sure this associate does great here? How do you think we need to behave? What do you think the things we need to do are going to be this way this associate is truly successful and set up for success within our practice?

Kiera Dent (06:37.838)

And what I found is when the team is bought in and they're bought into the associate, they're excited about the associate, they've had their questions answered, that team rallies around this associate. That team is super excited to recommend this associate for treatment. They're excited to recommend this associate for other patients in the practice. And something that really gets squirrely with teams is who's gonna see the new patients? Who does the hygiene exams? What can this doctor do? And as a team member myself,

I'm always looking at their clinical suite. And so making sure that that team knows perfect, we're gonna onboard them this way. We're gonna actually check their work with x-rays post-treatment. It's okay, we do this for the first three months. That way we don't have to do redos. Me and the doctor are actually gonna be working together. So the doctor and the associate will work together on monthly calibration meetings, weekly calibration meetings. They're also gonna calibrate with the hygiene team and really truly setting these in your schedules from the get-go will honestly help you onboard this associate with success. So what I like to do is,

the, the call to action on step two would be schedule a team meeting before the associates first day and set the stage for success. I usually like it to be a week or two before we type up that protocol for them. They know what's going to go on. They're able to meet this associate. They're able to get excited for the associate. And I also prep the associate like come in and be a human. They want to see your fun side. They want to see your clinical side. So if you can also show examples of case works that that associates done in the past, that also can really give the team buy-in for this as well.

And then step three of this process is going to be onboarding this associate successfully with daily, weekly, and monthly check-ins with consistent team and doctor feedback. Now I know this feels weird and a lot of doctors get funny because like, but they're a doctor and I'm a doctor and I don't ever want to undermine them. And what I, what I want to recommend and really emphasize for you is you are the expert in your practice. That doctor is an incredible dentist. That's why you're hiring them, but they don't know how to be an incredible dentist in your practice with your team in the ways that you guys have set it up of the culture of your practice.

So we're not here to tell them how to do dentistry. Maybe there's a few things that we do need to correct or to change or to calibrate on, but the bulk is how do we do it within our practice? And so there's onboarding checklists that we really love to do of how they can shadow. I really love to dovetail. So that means the doctor watches one procedure and then you watch one procedure. And I know this sounds annoying because usually when we want to hire an associate, we want them yesterday and we want to just fill their schedule.

Kiera Dent (08:56.44)

But I say if we slow down to speed up at the beginning, this is actually gonna help you be very successful with your associate, be very successful with their onboarding and catch the issues quickly and give the honest feedback before it becomes harder to give the feedback. The longer we go without giving that associate feedback, the harder it will be for them later on to take that. So it's giving the shadowing, maybe dovetailing. I use the same dovetail where it's one appointment then the next appointment. We go back and forth and we watch each other. Have them hear you do exams. You hear them do exams.

This allows you to calibrate very quickly. And I know it feels annoying, but I promise you, if you'll do this, that doctor will be able to produce for you so much faster than you think they'll be able to. So then from there, what we're going to do is we do a weekly where we actually calibrate with them and doctors, strongly recommend you put this in your schedule. We calibrate with them. We pull up X-rays just like going back to dental school. What's the FMX? What do you see in this X-ray? What am I, what do I see? We don't actually talk about it out loud, but we write it down and then compare notes.

We calibrate with our hygiene team. And if you have a really calibrated hygiene team, they should be able to tee up the treatment for the doctor. And then the doctor's then really just gonna have to come in and swing and make it happen. But that doctor might see things differently. And so really, what do we do if we see things differently? How do we calibrate our hygiene team? I recommend this takes about three months of being very intentional with it, meeting every week, meeting monthly and giving the feedback and doing true formal check-ins for both the associate and the team. Asking the team, how are they doing? Asking your hygiene team how they're doing.

giving the feedback of the positives and the areas to improve early on is going to fix that. Like I said, I'm very big when you onboard to make sure you're taking x-rays pre and post treatment. I know it sounds funny, but you really can get a lot further ahead if you're willing to take these quick steps. having a really structured check-in will help. And like I said, I have it in office and what was funny about them was it wasn't even funny. was just really like, truly it was sad because they had this amazing associate.

They brought them in. They didn't want to check the work. They didn't want to do the onboarding. They were like, they're just an amazing clinician. Let's go. Well, three, four months in, they started seeing a lot of redos and a lot of patient sensitivity and a lot of patient complaints. So they started looking, they started looking at the x-rays. had a lead assistant that sat with that doctor and started realizing there were open margins. Well, now it comes to the spot of they've been working with us for four months. We have all these patient treatments that's been done. We know we've got four months of not as great ideal dentistry. What do we do now?

Kiera Dent (11:17.826)

They ended up having to terminate that doctor and they had to do, was about eight months of redo dentistry that they had to do. And I thought we could have swallowed our egos. We could have swallowed our pride. We could have been here. We're here to help you. And let's fix these problems and issues before they become big issues. That's a much easier conversation to have than one after they've been in the practice for four months. It was awful for this practice. It was hard. And they have committed that every time they now bring on an associate, they always do the onboarding. They always do the calibrations. They always take the X-rays.

And also another tip is adding a lead assistant with that associate as soon as they start really sets them up for success because that assistant can see a lot of things that maybe we don't see otherwise when we're not in the operatory with them. So really having that, and I say map out your 30, 60, 90 day plan. What are you doing daily? What are we doing weekly? How do we make sure that they know how we treatment plan a crown? How do we treatment plan a root canal? How do we treatment plan and talk about implants? If they don't do this type of treatment, who do they refer with air quotes in our practice?

is really gonna set this associate up for success. So as a quick recap of how we onboard an associate effectively without team tension and amazing team buy-in is number one, we wanna make sure that we're hiring an associate that has our clinical and culture skillset. That's number one. Make sure we've got the DNA right of the correct person, because that's gonna help us exponentially. Number two is have a team meeting where we're able to actually talk through what does this associate need to be successful.

What are our questions? And we write it up a protocol for the team to follow. What do we say to patients? How do we introduce? Where do the new patients go, et cetera. And then step three is going to actually 100 % onboard this associate correctly with check-ins, calibration, and consistent feedback, 30, 60, 90 days, and possibly even beyond. And when you do this, this is going to be an incredible way for you to onboard them, have successful team buy-in, and hopefully incredible successful associate success.

I think one of my practices that I'm just really, really proud of within Dental A Teams Consulting is they were able to bring on two brand new straight out of school graduates. And they really were intentional about how they did it. They got the DNA right. They had a team buy-in of how we're going to do this. We set up the schedule appropriately. We figured out what this associate doctor needed. The associate doctors were mentored every single week. The hygiene team gave a lot of feedback. The dental assistant team gave a lot of feedback. And within nine months, their associates were producing about 100,000 a month.

Kiera Dent (13:42.156)

And to me, that's an incredible success story of we slowed down to speed up and look at the success that they were having. So with that, I really hope that you guys are able to take this to implement, to get excited for it. And if you're onboarding soon or thinking about us, DM us or email us, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com for an onboarding checklist that we can share a sample of what this looks like. And always like subscribe for more tips on leadership and success in your dental practice.

This is truly what the Dental A Team does and we help offices overcome these issues and overcome these struggle points to make it very successful for you and your team. So if that's helpful, reach out, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

Kiera recently got back from a trip to Bali, where she had one of the best customer service experiences of her life, and she’s sharing how it can apply to dental practices in today’s episode.

It’s all about solving your patients’ needs before they even ask; it’s about proactively protecting teeth AND calming fears. It’s all about thinking of the small things.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Kiera 

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Brad James, director of partner development at Kleer, is the star of this Dental A-Team episode! Brad talks about Kleer, which helps roll out membership plans effectively and successfully to uninsured patients, and its new program centered around small businesses and employee care.

Did you know that roughly half of small businesses don’t offer dental benefits, but 82% of them want to do so in the future? Enter Kleer Employee Care, which connects small businesses with local dentist practices for membership programs. Brad and Kiera discuss all the details behind what this means for small businesses and practices, including cost, commitments, and more.

This fully functional program is expected to roll out this May or June, so keep an eye out at www.kleer.com/kleer-employee-care! 

Check out other Dental A-Team podcast episodes that incorporate Kleer:

• #204: You Need to Put This in Place

• #276: Get More Money Into Your Practice

When it comes to a prospective patient’s first phone call to your practice, there is magic that should be happening to convert the call into a visit. Tiff and Dana talk through that process, including the right energy to give, what to say, the information to request, and more.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Tiff and Dana

Practice Momentum Virtual Consulting

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Tiff and Kristy give tips on how to catch up on those collections fast, including a day-ahead assessment and treatment plan presentation. The advice given in this episode isn’t only effective for offices concerned about collections, but any office, regardless of what their bank account looks like.

Episode resources:

Sign up for Dental A-Team’s Virtual Summit 2025!

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Transcript:

Kiera Dent (00:00.738)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera, and I hope you are just having an incredible day today. I hope you are so jazzed and you are so excited about dentistry, because I'm excited about dentistry. You don't call us the Dental A Team for nothing. Our job is to help you in your practice become the A Team of dental offices. Honestly, I love this. I love what we do. I love talking to you. I love helping you and your team just become everything and more that you've ever hoped to be. So today, I hope you are ready. I just did a really incredible

team training with an office about case acceptance. And I realized, hey, maybe that's something where I can help you in your practice. I love doing this with teams. I have a couple of practices where I help their treatment coordinators. And we've actually been able to add multiple millions. And that's not an exaggeration, multiple millions to their practice. And the thing that I just love is when we increase our case acceptance from doctors and team members, we're able to help more patients. And that's what I tell everyone. are.

so blessed and so lucky to be able to be treatment coordinator masters and to be able to help more patients and to give patients this incredible life, to be able to give them the confidence, to be able to give them the smile, to be able to help their longevity. And I always enjoy hearing the objections. So it's a fun time. So we'll do a part one, part two of this podcast where I'll kind of break down case acceptance for you of kind of how I get team members into this mindset.

And then what I'll do part two of all the objections and how you can overcome objections and treatment planning. I think one of our greatest wins was when I had an office who literally was able to sell an electronic, like an electric toothbrush, which we all know is better than just a standard one to an Amish family. I was blown away. And it was because this treatment coordinator was able to provide so much value of what this patient actually needed and to help them have the best dental health. And I just...

I love treatment planning and case acceptance so much because to me it's helping more patients have healthier smiles, healthier mouths. And I just think it's one of the greatest gifts that we could ever, ever, ever, ever give our patients and our team. So I hope you're excited. I'll break it down for you in a couple of simple steps. These are some of the things that I do to get treatment coordinators and doctors in the right frame of mind. Because what I found is case acceptance is truly 80 % your psychology and what you're thinking and 20 % skill. So I'll give you both.

Kiera Dent (02:19.79)

But really just wanting to break it down for you that so much of case acceptance is about Literally what you're thinking about. if you're new to the Dental A Team podcast, welcome. I'm Kiera Dent I'm your host I love all things dental and so much so that my last name is actually dent I created the Dental A Team consulting years ago when I left Midwestern University's dental college and working with so many of those dental students shout out to all of them and Realizing those students that I loved so much. We're going to go out into this

big bright world of dentistry and they were gonna need an advocate, someone who could vet companies for them, someone who could help guide them, someone who could help them understand what a P &L was, understanding what cashflow was, understanding the business aspect and the team aspect of dentistry, and that's how Dental A Team was born. So my first practice we took from 500,000 to 2.4 million in nine months and opened our second location. Dental A Team is a miracle grow for practices. We're able to increase.

your production, decrease your overhead and honestly decrease your stress and get a full doctor team experience. So that way doctors, don't just have to do this on your own. So that's a little bit about what Dental A Team is about. If you are part of our actual consulting dental family, welcome. I love you. I'm so grateful for you. It is truly one of the highlights of my entire life is watching offices succeed. Like we shout out office wins every single day in our team huddle. And when I hear offices who have broken a million or hit a hundred thousand for the first time or took home a paycheck for the first time or

got their team on board for the first time, literally, I light up, our team lights up because that's what we do. Our consultants are truly experts at what we do and we truly do love seeing your wins. Our tagline is your success and our passion. So our passion is seeing you successful. Our love of dentistry is being able to make sure you and your team are truly flourishing to help those patients get the best dentistry they can. So with that, setting up case acceptance is what I promise you are gonna come in part one of part two.

And like I said, we do this with teams. It's something really, really, really, I would say fulfilling for me to actually teach your teams how to present cases, how to help them. Like I said, I literally have a practice. We've got five offices and we have added multiple millions of dollars to their practices over the years of just working with their treatment coordinators and doctors. And it's funny, they have another person who watches their business and they said, what's happened?

Kiera Dent (04:39.342)

how you guys grown so much and they said it all started when we hired the Dental A Team and just shout out to that practice and that owner and those owners at that, those locations because honestly, they don't just listen but they actually execute and they implement and we work on it and we listen to their treatment plans and we review and what I will tell you, one of my biggest secrets for it is it's usually one or two words that's making or breaking your case acceptance. And I hope you heard that. It's one or two words.

that's actually making or breaking patients saying yes or no to you. So that's where it's so fun. So, okay, step one that I always like to tell people is, like I said, 80 % psychology, 20 % skill. So what you've got to do is you've got to literally be in the right mindset before you go in. So doctors, before you go in and present an exam, team members, before we go and talk about it, before we hand things off, treatment coordinators, before you even think about presenting a treatment plan, I want you to have the right frame of mind. Kiera Dent's frame of mind is...

Everyone says yes to me and there's always a solution. That's my mantra. That's what I say. That's what I think about. And this is when I used to not even be able to close $500 cases. I went from closing $500 cases all the way up to closing 50, 60, 70, $80,000 cases same day. I literally had no idea a credit card could go up to $80,000. I was like, whoa, we're buying a boat today. Like I didn't even know this was reality. But what I learned was it was my psychology. It was me realizing that this was not a big treatment plan. It's just a treatment plan. So that's the second step to this.

We actually cut out the emotion of it's not a big treatment plan. And what I love to do is I love to ask you right now to tell me, and you can say this out loud. I know I'm not actually listening, but hopefully you're playing along with me today. It actually will make this really real for you. But what is the number for you that's your actual high dollar treatment plan? If I were to say, what's a big treatment plan for you? What's your number? Some people's a thousand, some people's 5,000, $10,400. What is your number?

I need you to tell me your number and do not sugarcoat to me. Don't go higher, don't go lower. If you're listening to this as a team, which, hey, that's a great idea. This is a great team training. You're getting it with me for free. But what is the number? And the reason I want to know this number is because no matter what, no matter what you're doing, guess what? That number actually is influencing you. And what I say is there's no judgment on treatment planning. I just need to know and you need to know.

Kiera Dent (06:56.126)

what your number is so then we actually figure out where your ceiling is and how to go around it. When I start working with treatment coordinators, I usually say that I can typically tell when I look at a treatment tracker on a treatment coordinator what they're closing and it's usually close to us in their bank account. Dun dun dun dun dun, mic drop right there. The reason why is because we have this familiarity association where we think people are just like us and so I hear all the time of like, but Kiera, couldn't afford that or Kirea, could afford that or Kiera like,

That's like, it would be so hard for me as a parent to do this. And what we do is we try to put ourselves in other people's shoes, AKA empathy. But what we do on that is we actually close down a lot of cases that could be yeses because people are not just like us. Like I said, I didn't even know credit cards at the time could go up to $80,000. I had no idea. And had I assumed or projected or tried to be familiar with these patients, I would never have been able to close those cases. So what we wanna look at in these situations is,

We've got to cut the emotion. We've got to realize this is my ceiling and I'm going to get beyond that ceiling. Doctors, you have the same thing. You might walk into a room and you might think, my gosh, this patient is gonna think I'm buying my boat or they're paying for this. Whatever you're thinking about, patients actually pick up that energy vibe from you. And I know this sounds like woo woo.

but I will tell you I have taught so many people how to close cases and I'm freaking good at closing cases. Like I literally can walk into offices. I still test my skills when I walk into a practice because I really wanna make sure that what I'm teaching you is actually still working and it is. I have done it so many times successfully. So pick this up. We've got to cut the emotion and it's just a treatment plan. So I never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever want to hear you ever again say, my gosh, it's a big treatment plan. Because what you do is you amp yourself up and you get all this energy behind it.

unnecessarily, and then you actually get like skittish and nervous and the patient feels that. I want to remind you, patients are not buying treatment plans, they're buying your confidence and a dream of their future life. So what I like to do is then next, figure out what kind of motivator this patient has. Is it cosmetic, function, cost, or longevity? I also found with treatment planning, sequence matters. So notice I said, is it cosmetic, function, cost, or longevity?

Kiera Dent (09:08.546)

I did not start with cost and when I've done this in rooms and I've asked people and you can ask yourself right now, what is the number one motivator for you and your mouth? You're probably not gonna tell me it's cost. Believe it or not, you listen to those four. If you could only choose one, cost could be a portion of it, that's fine. But guess what, I could say, what is most important about your mouth and your smile? Is it cosmetic, function, cost or longevity? What would you tell me?

and I just sampled a room of probably 50 plus people and of those 50 plus people, three people it was cost. And the reason I like to highlight this is because we assume and we project because we wanna be familiar and close to these people that they're just like us and we think, my gosh, it's cost. If I were to sample an entire room of treatment coordinators across the nation, I promise you the number one thing people would tell me as to why they can't close cases is due to you got it cost.

But when I actually sample people and find out what's truly the most important for people, it's usually like 3 % of the room actually cares about cost. So I really, really, really want you to note that. And I want you to see that. With that, the next thing we're going to look at is, OK, now I know.

One, it's my psychology. Everyone says yes to me. There's always a solution and you can have whatever you want. You don't have to say that. But the reason I do that is because guess what? I walk in with pretty strong confidence. This patient is buying my confidence and I'm going forward knowing I'm going to figure out what motivates this person and I'm going to be able to help them say yes to this incredible life that they get to have with these teeth. Our teeth are literally the way we eat, talk, communicate, express our emotions. Like all of it. It's such an incredible thing for us to do.

We've cut the emotion, it's just a treatment plan. And then after that, what we're gonna do is we are going to make sure that we're not accidentally closing cases down before they even begin. And I say, don't create a solution to a problem they don't have. So a lot of times treatment coordinators, what they'll do is they'll start to like want to associate with this person and anticipate what objection they're gonna say so they don't quote unquote get broken up with. You're not about to get broken up with if a patient's silent.

Kiera Dent (11:23.17)

They're just thinking through it. So what starts to happen is treatment coordinators and or doctors and team members start to ramble. We start to talk, we start to be like, my gosh, and what you end up doing is talking them out of treatment. So we need to also learn the art of silence. So once we present a treatment plan, once we do it, we want to ask them, what questions do you have? I want you to be rock solid, confident moving forward. Notice I'm teaching you sequence matters, putting things in order. What am I focusing on? Same thing when I do a treatment plan.

What am I focusing on? Am I focusing on insurance first? Am I focusing on how I want them to feel? Am I telling them, hey, what questions do you have for me? I want you rock solid confident. I'm telling them moving forward, this is how I want you to feel. What patients will do is they will actually follow through with you. It's going to be something wild for you. And so making sure that we're using language that's going to get our patients going where we want them to go. We're also making sure we're not planting, I call it weeds in our flower garden. So not.

accidentally creating solutions to problems they didn't say they had. So it's, hey, like, so we have financing options. Well, if they didn't say they have a financing issue, why are we offering financing options? Like, I know, like, it might be a lot of time. Why are you saying that? If they didn't say it, don't bring it up. Because what you do is you plant seeds. And I've talked about this on the podcast, and I think it's just a really good example. I went to PT one time and I had a really bad knee and hip pain.

And the PT was like, I noticed you didn't have insurance. I was like, yeah, I don't. And she's like, this might be really expensive for you. Thank you. I'm in pain. How many times do I need to come? And she's like, well, I don't know. How many times do you think you could afford it or come in? Girl, you just planted weeds in your flower garden. You just gave me all these objections that I was not even thinking about because you didn't stop talking to listen to me of what I actually said.

What I said is I'm in a lot of pain and I want to get out of pain. You then pick up, Kiera's number one motive is to get out of pain. So, hey, Kiera, the way we're going to be able to get you out of pain is we're going to see you three times a month. I'm going to see you for an hour. You're going to do exercises at home and we're going to get you out of pain in the next four months. Fan-freaking-tastic. Now, if I have an objection, I'm like, well, how much is that going to cost? Do you guys do payment plans? Let me bring that up, but pay attention to what your patients want. So,

Kiera Dent (13:42.978)

These are just going to be a few little things for you. There's so many more things when I teach offices, like we need to edify our doctor. We need to tell this patient, my gosh, you are so lucky that Dr. Taylor is your doctor. Dr. Taylor is incredible. They're going to take great care of you. They do incredible dentistry. I am so excited for you to get treatment done with them. I have now put this patient on the winning team. They are buying my confidence. They are so excited about it and treatment coordinators. will give you a tip when doctors diagnose our job is to close. Did you hear that?

Doctors, when you diagnose, you should be able to expect and count on your team to close. I feel like when my doctor like diagnosis treatment, my job as a treatment coordinator is to get that patient on the schedule to figure out what their needs are and to be able to close that patient. So I need to figure out one, it's my mindset. Two, I need to make sure that I am not bringing emotion into this treatment plan. Three, I need to make sure that I'm presenting things in a right sequence based on what I'm focusing on to make sure that patient is focusing on the things that I need them to focus on.

Four, I need to make sure that I'm not planting any weeds in my flower garden and presenting solutions to problems they don't even have. And five, I need to make sure that I get this patient on the winning team. Doctors, you can say the same thing. You can present the treatment plan and say, my gosh, Kiera is an incredible treatment coordinator. She's gonna take great care of you. I know you're gonna really love her. I want you to be super confident moving forward. We have told them, we want them confident moving forward. We have told them that they're going to move forward.

Why on earth would we diagnose treatment and why on earth this patient come to the dentist if they don't want to move forward? Riddle me that. Think about that for a second where I was like, oh my gosh, they're gonna be so stressful. Insurance and money and teeth and pain. Well, yes, you're gonna create that. What you think about is what you create. And I will tell you this over and over and over again. So if you're like, oh, the patient can't afford it. Like the patients are saying no to me. You keep creating that. Care is as everyone says yes to me and there's always a solution and we will find it.

We will find it. Not I will find it, but we, me and the patient, we will figure this out. We will find a solution because I will close cases because if I believe in my doctor and I believe in the dentistry that they do, my job is to help this patient get the dentistry that they need done. We can then go in to so many different pieces of how we present this, how we talk about this, how we go into objections. Like I said, there will be a part two to this podcast. but really the reality is you've got to get this podcast. This one's about, you've got to be in the right freaking mindset.

Kiera Dent (16:03.438)

before you even think about presenting a treatment plan. And usually we're like, Kara, tell me how to present the treatment plan. And I'm gonna say pause. And I want you to think about the treatment plan you're presenting, but I want you to think about the mindset, the sequence, what you are putting emphasis on because that's what your patients are responding to. You're like, patients aren't saying yes to me. Well, my question is, what is your sequence? What are you focusing on? What are you thinking about that might be influencing and not might that is influencing what your patients are responding to?

So it's wild when I start to get people in this mindset, when I start to help them realize like, okay, when I walk into the room, doctors, patients love you, they say yes to you when you are diagnosing comprehensive care. Whatever you feel is what this patient's going to respond to. Treatment coordinators, when they come up, it's an easy, it's an A plus B equals C. Fantastic, I'm gonna schedule you, present the treatment plan, bada bing, bada boom, we're gonna figure out the solutions. Notice I've cut the emotion. This patient's here, I didn't get them here. I did not brush their teeth, I did not floss for them.

They got themselves here. But the great news is my job is to help you get the great dentistry that's going to really truly make sure that you are taken care of. And that's what my job is to do. My job is to not like woe is you, like make you feel bad about this. My job is to have confidence. My job is to know that no matter what objection this patient gives me, I have a solution for it. And we are going to have a solution together. My job is also to help this patient figure out what their driver is by listening to them, paying attention. Like I said, it's 80 % psychology.

What is this patient's motivator? What is it that's driving them? Doctors, you can pay attention to this too when you go into the room. Look to see how do they talk? What do they tell you? What are the things when you emotionally connect with them? When you ask them about their life, what are they telling you? Link your treatment plans back to that. They tell you you've got kids and it's a mom. Reminder, she's worth it. She truly is worth it. If it's an elderly patient, remind them that your body deserves this nutrition. Like it's so great for you and it does so many things for you and it deserves that nutrition.

to truly make sure that you have the best quality of life you can. We can remind our patients of these things. It is an emotional purchase. They are not buying a filling. They're not buying a crown. They are buying the ability to eat. They are buying the ability to smile. They're buying the ability to make memories. They're buying the ability to communicate with confidence. That's what they're buying. And so when you walk into a treatment plan, this is how you become a treatment planning master, a case acceptance like guru. This is how you do it is it's.

Kiera Dent (18:26.196)

start out with the right mindset. And this is what I get obsessed with because a lot of times we think we're doing all these pieces and we're not. And so what I want you to realize is the next podcast will be the tactical and you're like, okay, I'm going to like hurry up and listen to that high five. Thank you for being an avid listener. But number one, get this podcast dialed in first before you listen to the tactical, because if you don't fix your mindset, no matter what tactical piece I give you, you will always continue to get the same results where your focus goes, your energy flows.

where your energy flows, your focus goes, and it just goes around and around. So if I'm thinking patients will say no to me, that's going to become my reality. You create your reality. So if you've got patients saying no to you, you are creating it. So what paintbrush strokes do we need to remove? What thoughts do we need to remove? What new thoughts do we need to bring into it? What do I need to drop? I know what my number is of a high treatment plan. I need to drop that because there are no high treatment plans. There are just treatment plans. There is just dentistry. These are just people that deserve to have healthy mouths, healthy bodies.

healthy lives. That's what treatment planning's about. So I'm so jazzed. I hope you took a bunch from this. If you want, we do this with teams. And like I said, you want to believe that I can add a pay for our consulting in a couple sessions? Here we go. It's really such a beautiful thing. And to help teams become so confident to do this is truly a huge passion of Dental A Team. So if you're like, my gosh, I don't even know how to do this. I need you to listen to what I'm saying that I don't even realize I'm saying.

That's what we're experts in and I love to do this for teams. love to help you doctors out with this. So reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com and be sure to catch part two of this because I'm going to go into tactical on the next one, but promise me you will get your mindset right to help more patients. It is your moral and ethical obligation. And I hope you take that on seriously. And as always, thanks for listening and I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.

Managing multiple practices doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Kiera lays out simple tips to follow in order to map your way to building several successful practices.

Every 3rd Thursday at 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time, the Dental A-Team hosts a free webinar on what should’ve been taught in dental school, but probably wasn’t. Topics can include how to make your practice run smoother, how to think about DSOs, life as an associate, and more!

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Transcript:

Kiera Dent (00:00.722)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and welcome. Welcome to the show. I hope you guys are having such an incredible day I hope that you love the fact that you get to work in dentistry and I know sometimes we can forget how great our life is I know sometimes we can get caught up in the minutia of the patients the schedule the turnover That sometimes we forget and I have this cute little quote right here. So if you guys are watching, I have an office who gave this to me They know I usually leave them with a good quote and it says now and then

It's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy. And so today I hope that you pause in your pursuit of greatness and remember to just be happy, to be happy for the life that you're living, whether it's where you want it to be or whether it's not where you want it to be, to be happy that you're alive and that you have more days that you get to choose what you want to do. I was sitting on a plane flying and I sat next to a man and it was his birthday. And if I remember right, he was turning 90 and I said,

what does someone at 90 wish for on their birthday? And he said, I wish for more birthdays. And I've thought about that a lot of, I be like, if I was 90 and my wish would be to be wishing for more birthdays, what would I, what would I be thinking about today? What would I be wishing when I turned 90 and wishing for more birthdays? Would I have wished that I would do today? And I think one of the biggest things I've come to is to just enjoy.

to enjoy the life I'm living, I think there's so much of this like hustle mentality and you look on social media and we often feel like we're not doing enough or that we're not being enough or that all these things and I'm like, since when has that become culture? I was at another conference and they said that one of the greatest problems that our society is facing right now is social media and all the quote unquote criticism or people's opinions and that's preventing people from trying and.

from living their life. And I thought about that a lot that, you know, is this something that we are doing to ourselves? Is this something that we could possibly, possibly, you know, work through? And I just think maybe instead of being so afraid and maybe instead of always on the pursuit and looking at what if we changed it and we enjoyed it? What if we did things just because we enjoy that? And this is something where I'm speaking more to myself than probably any of you have.

Kiera Dent (02:21.836)

I don't always have to be productive. And I think half of the game of life is to learn to love the life we're living and to really be content in that life that we're living. And so for each of you today, again, I hope that you pause in your pursuit of whatever you're pursuing and remember just to be happy today and to give yourself that great gift. As always, you guys, I hope that you just know how much I love you on our podcast family and thank you for making this podcast an incredible podcast. Thank you for making us one of the top dental podcasts out there.

your reviews of the podcast, you sharing it, you tagging us, you sending in feedback of what topics you want me to speak about and our team to speak about at Hello @ The Dental A Team .com really helps us make sure that we're relevant for you because at the end of the day, this podcast is not for me. I love the podcast. I enjoy podcasting with you, but at the end of the day, this podcast was made for you to give you the shortcuts to success, to give you a community of people, to help you feel like you're not alone, to give you the tactical practical tips.

of what you could and should be doing. And I hope that you're taking that on. I also believe in our mission is to positively impact the world of dentistry in the greatest way possible. And that might seem like a, like a funny mission for people, but I believe that there's so much good in this world. I believe that dentistry is incredible. I believe that working in a dental practice and giving people the confidence of their smiles and their being able to give them their, their lives back is something that we, we are so blessed to work in this industry. And

I just hope today that you remember that and just know I'm grateful for you and to continue to please share this podcast, to leave the reviews, to let me know things that we can do to make this even better and more of a great resource for you. I always want to remind you all to go onto our website, TheDentalATeam.com and click on our podcast tab. There are hundreds, literally almost thousands of episodes for you built for you and your team, built for the tactical practical for you to share with your team.

to give you the resources, any topic that you could ever imagine. I guarantee you we have a podcast on it. So go check those out. And if you ever need any help, always reach out. Hello @ TheDentalATeam .com. I'm always here to help you support you because I want you to succeed radically and just enjoy the life that you've been blessed with. So today I wanted to quickly, there was a question that came up of what they should have taught you in dental school. And it's funny to me because I actually did my story, my journey, if you're new to the podcast, welcome.

Kiera Dent (04:42.01)

I actually was a dental assistant and then I became a treatment coordinator and a scheduler and a biller and an office manager. And then I actually worked at a dental college at Midwestern University in Arizona while my husband attended pharmacy school. And when I was there, I remember I got the job and people asked me, Kiera why are you wanting to leave clinical practice and go into this education? And there was two reasons, but in my interview, what I said was reason number one is,

I wanted to have a bigger impact and I knew I could not have that impact sitting in a clinical setting because I wanted to impact and inspire future dentists of how great this profession is. So that was my motivating reason. And I hadn't even thought about it until I was asked the question because my number one reason I was trying to get the job was because I wanted a discount on my husband's tuition. But I remember when I had my last day at my dental office. This is a little personal for me. I was working as a dental assistant and

I remember I was curling my hair and I had the thought, Kiera you're probably not going to be in clinical dentistry again. And I wasn't, I was front office. And then I went into the dental college and I am so thankful that I worked there because one, I got to see what it's like for dentists and new dentists coming into the field of what your education's like. And mad kudos to Midwestern university in Arizona. Kudos to Dr. Gilpatrick and Dr. Brad Smith and Dr. Polito and Dr.

so many Dr. Kramer and there were so many doctors that I worked with that truly are just incredible people. Like I have so many fun memories. I had such a good time. I decided to prank the dental students. I would make them like, my gosh, the things that I did at that dental college, I am so happy that they let me just be who I am and have fun with the holidays and make dental school fun for them. But what I really saw was one,

There's so much clinical, there's so much of you learning how to do your .O .D .s and drop the box and get the perfect contacts that I think that there was so much about owning a practice that was maybe left and how to manage a team because you're such great clinicians and you love to be clinicians. And so I actually went and helped one of the students start her practice and I was a practice owner with her in Colorado. And we took our first practice from 500 ,000 to 2 .4 million in nine months and opened our second location.

Kiera Dent (06:56.21)

And if you think that that was a smooth, easy path, well, you should have known that both of us were basically on divorce row. I was on suicide's door. Like it was not a pretty scene and success oftentimes can come, but at what expense? so looking back at that, that's actually why I started the consulting company. Cause I thought if I could help her grow, what about all these other students that I know? And so shout out to all my Midwestern students. but I think a lot of things that they maybe should have taught you in dental school. This is not going to be a whole summary because at the end of the day,

This is just a small piece, but I do want to let you know that we have monthly webinars to teach you a lot of these topics. And they're free. They're free CE. We call them Thirsty Thursday. It's on the third Thursday. So it's easy for you to remember. It's for those who are thirsty for more. And we do it on the third Thursday. And it is at 4 .30 PM Pacific time, 7 .30 Eastern. Free CE for you about things that you guys can learn and things that they should have taught you in dental school or things that they should teach you in a practice or.

how you can make your practice run easier. And we have amazing guests that I vetted. We teach you a lot of content, but really wanting that to come for you guys. but a few things that I feel if I were to be able to talk to my students right now from Midwestern that I love so much of what did they not teach you in dental schools? Number one, you're probably more prepared than you think you are. And that's not going for every student. I know there were some students who needed it, but as I watched people become practice owners,

Generally speaking, the students are actually pretty darn well prepared. And no matter how much more preparing you do, and no matter how much we do of this or that, you're probably still going to have, you're going to have concerns. And I remember when me and that student, opened our practice and we were producing like crazy mistakes happened, things happened. We didn't know what we were doing. I felt like we were two girls playing house and had no clue what we were doing. But I think isn't that life. Remember the first day you joined dental school or the first time you went to

your first day working in a practice or your first day working on a live patient versus the Dexter. I think none of us feel prepared. And I think that that is good because it keeps us safe, but also I think it might keep us too safe. And so I wish that in dental school, our students would have learned that like, you're more prepared than you think you are at least at Midwestern. Now know that there's some colleges that maybe aren't as strong, but, you're probably more prepared than you think you are. And the other one is if you want to open a practice,

Kiera Dent (09:12.224)

open a practice. know there's a lot of commentary about DSOs and should we still open it and private practice and at the end of the day, I think that itch will never leave you. So if you have the itch to open a practice and to own, you probably are in the right shoes and to go for it. And I'm not saying to just haphazardly do it. That's why there's consultants. That's why there's coaches. That's why I'm obsessed with what we do because I wanted all of my students to have a resource in the industry where they could count on me. They could trust me to vet people.

to lead them through it, to have no judgment, to answer the questions of what is a PNL or what are KPIs or what are all these things that I feel like I should know but I don't know. Let's stop shoulding on ourselves and let's just ask the questions and let's get the resources. But truly I wish that they would have taught you that you can own a practice and every doctor I've talked to for the most part, I'd say 90 % of them say, I wish I would have opened a practice sooner because I was more ready than I thought I was.

Now on the flip side, I would also say I want you to learn a lot about your front office. I want you to learn the billing because I think that that's where doctors actually have a lot of worry and a lot of problems. And so that's actually why I created the virtual academy within Demilay team where I have literally CE courses for office management and billing. And they're not long, but taking the time just to understand and to get a lay of the land. So when you do have a team, you can truly help them. You know how to check and make sure your finances are correct.

you know how to bill so that way you're never worried about your finances. And I wish that they would have told you that in dental school. Like, here's some pieces, here's some resources, learn this piece. Also the difference between cashflow and profitability and like what it is and how like it doesn't matter what you're producing, it matters what you're taking home. That's the biggest ticket because that's ultimately what like that's what we're working for. And

I wish that there would have been some more conversation on that. And then I really truly wish in dental school, they would have taught the students to take their third and fourth years and treat them like mini resonancies, get the reps in, learn to get your speed up, learn to get your injections where they don't hurt, learn those things of the bedside manners and take the feedback from your professors. The girl that I worked with, she had done, gosh, I'm probably making this up, but over 200 crowns. And she practiced, people were like, there's no way.

Kiera Dent (11:26.284)

She was practicing, practicing on type it on. She was doing the reps and getting the reps and people were like, how did you guys hit the ground running from day one? Well, once she's an incredible dentist, like mad kudos to her, but two, she put the time in and the reps and she literally treated her third and fourth year as a mini residency and just did the reps and did the pieces to get herself the confidence. going into private practice, she was there. I also wish that they would have taught you guys to be confident in your exams. I love NDTR. If you're a podcast listener, phenomenal. If you're new to it, welcome.

NDTR is my favorite exams, especially for new doctors. Cause it gives you kind of like a mental process of what to follow. Now you can think of the acronym as neuter. You can think of it as never date the rookie. You can think of it new dentist, tough road. You can think of it as Nevada dentist, totally rock. I don't care how you remember this acronym, but it's the next visit, the date to return, how much time is needed. And then is there recare scheduled for them? And what that does is it helps dentists to really get into those minds of how to do the exam effectively for patients to know exactly what do need to come back

When do I need to come back? And how much time is this going to take? Because what you've done is you've just eliminated the three biggest objections that patients have when saying yes or no to treatment. And I really just think that those are some pieces that I feel like the profitability of the cashflow, how to run a business, knowing the front office and the billing, and then also like how to do really effective and efficient exams. Those are things that I think in dental school would have been so helpful for you to learn. I wish they would have done like a cost analysis for you of

as an associate, if you're taking an in an associate ship, how do you know what you're going to be making? Like, I don't care if it's 30 % across the board. What does that look like and what is their production and what's 30 % of a hundred thousand dollar a month practice versus maybe 25 % of a $450 ,000 a month practice? And how many new patients are you getting and how to like vet those associate ships a little bit better to know financially what's going to make sense for you? What are the best opportunities for you? What is the mentorship piece?

What's the line between being humble and confident versus cocky and prideful? Those are things that I feel as new dentists coming into the scene really can benefit you. And this is what I'm obsessed with doing webinars on for you guys and doing resources for you and creating the podcast. And then also coaching. I coach a lot of new doctors as soon as they bought practices or even as associates of how they can actually increase their production and how they can be stronger leaders as doctors. And I think that those would be a few things

Kiera Dent (13:49.294)

maybe could have been taught in dental school for you. Of course, there's like a myriad of other things, but those are just some tips of the iceberg. So always, always, always, I try to create free resources for students, those who are on a budget, doctors who are on a budget. know buying a practice is expensive. We were, I called my doctor 2 .5. As I watched that spine, it's 2 .5. And you can guess that was maybe a magic number of how much we were in the hole. And I think about that. It's okay. The money will come if you're a good dentist.

The money will come, like constantly improve your skillset. I also wish I would have taught you guys how to do implants. Like implants are the day and the age of today. Sleep apnea, how to like adjust your bites, things like that, that I think you guys just struggle with when you're first out of school. But really building that confidence in you. And I just want to let you know that you are truly more prepared than you think you are. And I'm saying that for like 90%. Some of you still need the help, all right? But most of you are truly doing.

a work than you think you are. And so please join us. Thursday, Thursday is the third Thursday of every month at 4 .30 PM Pacific, 7 .30 Eastern. I'd love to have you there. You get free CE and also topics like this, topics where we help you. You can always submit in topics you'd love us to do the CE on. Hello @ TheDentalATeam .com. You're also welcome to reach out and ask these things, but truly my obsession is helping you be confident in who you

confident in running a business, confident in knowing the numbers, confident in running a team with strong leadership and giving you that peace of mind and letting you know that you're doing a better job than you think you are. So that's kind of my tips for you guys. I know there's plenty others. If you have some things that you wish that they would have taught you in dental school, please email me. I'd love to know from dentists and different perspectives. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. As always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

Kiera does a quick deep-dive into one of her practices that she’s worked with for about a year now, and has visited three times. When she first arrived, culture...Continue Reading...

In today's episode, Kiera is joined by a unique office manager, Ashley Keith. Ashley's husband is a dentist who owns a 20 op practice that has four dentists, 10 hygienists and a huge support team.

Kiera points listeners to where opportunity for hidden savings or additional value could be lurking in your profit and loss statements.

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Transcript:

Kiera Dent (00:00.942)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners, this is Kiera. And today I just want to have a really fun podcast with you. I want to talk about some possible ways of hidden value, how to trim some fat in the practice. think these are just some fun things that I don't think we often think about that really can actually add pennies, dollars, Benjamins, thousands into your pocket with minimal effort. As always, thanks for being a part of our Dental A Team podcast family. I adore you.

I appreciate you. If I was with you right now, I'd be telling you, you're doing way better than you think you are. And my mission is to positively impact the world in the greatest way possible. Life is my passion. Dentistry is my platform. And I am here to infuse you with positivity of tactical tips of sharing how you can be living your best life. Life, the life you were destined and meant to live and doing it through dentistry because I'm obsessed with helping you guys give back to people, share with people and become who you were ultimately meant to be. With that, you're loving this podcast,

Go leave us the review, share this with someone because for me to get this into the hands of every single person, every single dentist in this world, I need your help to do it. So please truly go share, share this with someone. And today let's start talking about ways that we can trim the fat, find the hidden value of just little things that we might not be thinking about. My husband does this. He is the guru in our family of looking at our expenses and figuring out what things are we not doing.

of just little tiny things of hidden fees. So you can do this in your personal life and your professional life. And something my husband and I were talking about is we don't have this on a set cadence, right? And so how can we set this on a set cadence? So if you're using a software, our company uses ClickUp. I would not recommend it for most practices. I usually recommend Asana or Trello or Basecamp. Asana is my go-to. Monday.com is another great one. Those are all really good ones, but put this as a reoccurring task. So every year we actually look at these things. And then I do set as a reoccurring task.

every single quarter. My bookkeepers know, so email your CPAs today. Hello, CPAs. Super excited to talk to you. I need you to send me a detailed P &L at the end of every single quarter. I set up myself reminders in my inbox. You can set it up in your project management software, whatever it is, but have a reminder to review your P &L. And I think review your business P &L and your life P &L every quarter. And if you go through every single line item, you will find little areas, but a few things for you today of hidden costs, hidden value, things that you could be doing.

Kiera Dent (02:20.834)

Number one is your insurance. My husband, he's a pharmacist and we have disability insurance, we have life insurance, and there will actually come a point in time, potentially, that you actually no longer need this insurance. For dentists, I'm strongly advocating for you to always carry your disability insurance in case anything happens. I've had so many dentists actually have fluke weird things, like I had a dentist in their 30s have a stroke, I had a dentist in their 20s get cancer, I had a dentist who had tingling in their hands and they actually have

something in their neck, you never know when something weird is going to happen in dentistry. Your hands are really what are going to be able to make it to where you can be successful in your career. but assessing it. I know for us with our our insurance, it's usually we do a lot of research when we buy our cars or our house or our practice or we're getting out of school, but then we never go and reassess it. And so check to make sure are we really like are we paying more than we should be?

Is there a better carrier out there? Are there new people on the market that could be better for us? And just go check instead of just paying that premium every single month, go and look, can we trim the fat? And I know this sounds annoying and you're like, gosh, I don't want to do it. Delegate this to someone, have your managers look into it for you if you want to. But the point is look to make sure that we're not just passively paying our insurances, but we're actively looking to make sure, are we getting the best rates? Are we getting the best fees? Could we negotiate our lease and our rent? That's another zone.

all the different areas that we've negotiated, let's make sure we're looking back. And I think insurance is a really, really big one. The next one is internet. Internet goes up on us, cable, our subscriptions. Can we get those discounted? I know a lot of times with insurance, give you a promo, or excuse me, internet. They give you a promo for a while. And can you cancel it and restart it? Please do it on a weekend. We do not want it disrupting patient care. But can we cancel it and actually get reduced fees? And I know it doesn't sound that great. It's like, OK, well, maybe I could get 50 bucks.

Well, 50 bucks over the course of a year is 600 bucks. And so if we look at that, I know 600, you're like, but Kiera, we're doing like 4 million. I agree with you, but $600. It's the principle of continually looking for where can we trim the fat? So we're always staying at our peak because we never know. And so we're always looking at these things, trimming little hidden costs. These things add up. So let's say we're able to save $200 on our insurance. We're able to save 50 bucks on our internet. Then the next one is credit card fees.

Kiera Dent (04:44.834)

I'm going to be a huge advocate for you looking at credit card fees and not just being like with the person that you started the practice with. Credit cards are notorious for tacking on these extra additional fees that you don't even know what they are to where you're paying 7 % on your credit card transactions. That's ludicrous. There's companies like Bestcard or Moolah. can definitely, we have affiliate relationships with them that we can connect you with and you can get the best prices and promos with them. You get terminals for free. You should be paying...

two to three percent max on your credit card transactions. And so when you look at that, paying an additional four percent on credit card transaction fees, that is so much. So let's say you're a four million dollar practice. OK, let's say that you let's actually I'll just do two million. OK, let's come down a little bit. So a two million dollar practice, you transact all of that and we're paying an extra four percent. That's an additional eighty thousand dollars just because we weren't wise stewards over and like looking to trim the fat.

looking at these items. This is where we look at it. Every single month my credit card company sends it to me. You can send it to your manager. Do the quick math. How much was it? How much of that percentage did they take out? Because it doesn't seem like a lot. But what is the true percentage? For me, I try to average 2.7 to 2.9 because we don't take actual cards. You guys actually do a lot of actual cards in the practice. I know you have a lot of cards on file. What can we do to get that reduced down? And there's also companies like Dental Merchant Advocate that can actually go through your credit card statement, see how they can save.

They do a 50-50 split so they take 50 % of the savings and you get 50 % of the savings So it's a great company They can reduce it for you But also go and look at these other companies and see could you also reduce your own fees for you? So look at that look to see look at the credit card fees. What are you being charged for me? I also have a bunch of credit cards that charge me annual fees Could we be getting the same points or better points from other credit cards? Of course talk to your financial advisors because I know opening and closing credits can actually hurt you and help you depending upon how you do it

But are there other ones that you could be doing that would actually give you better rates, give you better return? Being just intentional with the credit cards. We put so much money on our company cards. Are we still in the best credit card for our business and for the savings that we could be getting? Or are they charging us? Again, we don't fall in love with it. Things change. So let's make sure we're always being so strong. Same thing with your labs. Are there better labs out there? Are there better supplies out there that we could go and work with? I know that there's some great companies like Ordo, O-R-D-O.

Kiera Dent (07:09.114)

They can actually get you reductions on your supplies. I know you love your suppliers and I'm not here to say not to, but there are better ways to do it you can actually save a lot of money. There's buying groups. If you want some help, email me Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. You can literally work with your same exact suppliers, but you can save exponent. Like we're talking thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars. To me, these are the simple things that put money in your pocket. And like we said, $200 on our insurance, 50 bucks here, 80,000 with our credit card fees.

with our supplies, a lot of offices are saving hundreds of thousands. Like I am telling you in the hundred thousand right there, we're up to 180,000. If we could save a hundred thousand on our supplies labs, getting a reduction without losing it. You could bring in a 3d printer and not have to pay for those night guards or orthotrains. Now, of course, make sure that you are trained and you're not hurting patients to try and cut costs, but there's a lot of things we can order. A lot of things. I have offices that order things on Amazon or different suppliers, but check to make sure that the fees haven't gone up.

because they do everything goes up and let's make sure that we're actually paying the best fees. And are there other people coming to the game that could be possibly just as good if not better. So looking for that. Other things, cell phones. I know this sounds silly. I've been with Verizon. my gosh. For like 20 years. I kid you not. And there's another cell phone company called Visible that's new to the market and they're $25 a month for unlimited data. I sound like I'm on a Visible commercial. $25 a month.

unlimited data, unlimited call, text, everything. And I watched for a while to see, they actually really good? My family has been on them $25 a month for a cell phone. And yet most of us are probably paying like 70, $80 a month for our cell phones. That's a simple switch. It runs off the Verizon towers. The only con is if you go out of the country, you do need to have a SIM card there. That's the only con they don't have international currently. I guarantee you they'll get there. But $25 just for cell phones. That's like,

right there, let's just do another 50 bucks for us. So we've got 200 for our insurance, 50 for our internet, 50 for our phones. That's $300 right there. That's 3,600 bucks that you like just in those simple savings, not to mention the 80,000 on credit card fees and the 100,000 on supplies. But this is where we trim the fat. This is where we're able to find little simple things. This is where we're good stewards. we can pay. I think it's always funny. I don't think about like gauze. If gauze is the exact same, but I could pay

Kiera Dent (09:35.962)

$200 for gauze or I could pay 20 bucks for gauze. It's exact same, same packaging, same gauze, everything. It's not like the string gauze. Don't worry. I know that there are some better products out there that we pay for. But why on earth would I be paying 10 times the amount just because I wasn't willing to go and do some research? Now doctors, your time is very valuable. So I'm not going to say that these are necessary things for you to go do, but for your office managers, have them go look into this, have them do the research for this, but be intentional. I mean, you're spending money. Why don't we make sure we're spending it?

in the most effective way possible and keeping the most amount of money in your book and your in your pocket. This is how we keep profitability. This is how you're able to afford consultants. This is how you're able to afford coaches is how you're able to afford CBCT. This is how you're able to afford the CE and why not be smart with our finances. And I want to tell you, I believe that the best doctors that are good owners are the ones who fall in love with their numbers, who have the discipline of looking annually, quarterly.

They do a full financial review, a whole assessment. Take a look at these items. Look to see the hidden. We look at them like, we just don't feel like we have enough money. Well, I know $3,600 doesn't feel like a lot, but guess what? Every single month, that was $300. What if we could put those $300 to a team member and be able to hire somebody who has higher value? We maybe can't afford that hygienist because they want $47 and we're only paying 45.

Well, that $2 per hour might just got made up for because we just cut down our internet bill by just making one phone call. These little areas are where you become incredible practices. And so I just want to give you some ideas to get your brain stirring. If you have some good ideas of where you've trimmed the fat or some great resources or some great suppliers or some great dental pieces that you've been able to find, let me know, email me Hello@TheDentalATeam.com. I think it's always so fun to share with you the best ideas. That's why I love the podcast. That's why I love to consult because I love to

Share. love to bring our doctors together. I love our community that shares the best resources, how to get things cheaper, how to save money, looking for different ways to do it. Because if we can be better, we can hire better people. We can hire more team members and have them work in great places. We can grow your practice exponentially because we trimmed the fat in the areas that really it didn't make a difference. Our internet is same internet. We're just paying cheaper.

Kiera Dent (11:53.282)

Our cell phone could potentially be better or worse. If you hate visible, I'm really sorry, but take a look at it. Like that's saving. You could put your whole family on it. Think of now, instead of just you, you've got four or five, six people saving 50 bucks a month. Well, now that's instantly a lot better deal than just yourself. So look at all these different things. Could you get like a Spotify plan and share it with family members and everybody's paying less? Could we get a Netflix family plan and be doing less? All those dollars, it seems like $2 here, $10 there, $5.

When you add it up every single month, I look at my credit card bill and it's usually for 20, 30, $40 Amazon purchases that add up to 2000, 4,000, 5,000, 6,000, 10,000 of $20 transactions. So why not get the $20 savings, the $30 savings, the $50 savings, more money back to you on things you're already using. You're just being smart with it. So like I said, if you've got other great ideas, send them on over. Hello@TheDentalATeam.com be smart.

Save money, get cash in your pocket. And if we can help you in any way, reach out Hello@TheDentalATeam.com And as always, thanks for listening. I'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.

Whatever you celebrate, happy holidays! Kiera reflects on what this past year has meant, the wins she’s had, and thinks about what the new year will bring. She also encourages listeners to journal about their own 2021 experiences and beyond!

Take this holiday season to reflect and make goals to evolve into the best version of yourself. We’re so happy to have our Dental A-Team around us.

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This episode is about all things billing, A to Z! Kiera is joined by Sarah with Evolution Dental Billing to chat about key verbiage for out-of-network insurance... Continue Reading...

Dr. Dave Moghadam returns to the Dental A-Team podcast! This time, he’s giving the goods on priority scheduling, something he’s been working with for over a year now. He and Kiera go deep into priority scheduling with the following highlights:

• How to map out ideal schedule

• Keeping it flexible

• Rolling out to the team

• Space for emergencies

• How hygiene fits in

• And more!

About Dr. Moghadam:

Dr. Moghadam was born and raised in Morris County, New Jersey. After completing his undergraduate degree at Rutgers University in New Brunswick he went on to obtain his Doctor of Dental Medicine degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry (UMDNJ) in Newark. During his time at UMDNJ, Dr. Moghadam received extensive recognition for his outstanding leadership, academic and clinical aptitude, and dedication to the profession. Some of his achievements include receiving the William R. Cinotti Endowed Scholarship and the American Student Dental Association Award of Excellence, as well as induction into the Gamma Pi Delta Prosthodontic Honor Society.

He then chose to complete a general practice residency at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick where he received advanced training with an emphasis on comprehensive restorative treatment, endodontics, and implant dentistry. 

Episode resources:

Check out Dr. Dave Moghadam’s practice

Listen to episode 496, Perfect Quarterly Calibration

Listen to episode 472, How to Calibrate Your Hygiene Team

Reach out to Kiera

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Want to bump revenue from $1.25 million to $2 million and drop overhead by 10%? Then listen to this office autopsy! Kiera shares a success story she’s had in an anonymous office and spills some of the beans on what steps she and the practice took to get from a pretty good point A to a very awesome point B.

1. Revamp morning huddle

2. 1. Track your numbers!

3. Train back office to be treatment planners (DAT’s signature move)

   1. Tip-out bins for ordering

   2. Order twice a month

   3. Negotiate fees

   4. And more!

4. Reduce overhead

Now, if your office can implement these steps on its own, full steam ahead, but the Dental A-Team is here for you if you’d like! We’re just an email away: hello@thedentalateam.com! 

Big Life Financial’s Derrick Van Ness returns to the podcast! He talks with Kiera about financial thresholds dentistry professionals should aim to meet, the difference between dying with zero versus an estate, how to be strategic as business owners for economic downfall, and a lot more.

This episode will tell you what you need to do to be prepared for potential mayhem in the economy.

Episode resources:

Learn more about Big Life Financial

Get in touch with Derick directly: derick@biglifefinancial.com 

Listen to episode 511, Tax Time: Getting the Most Bang For Your Buck

Listen to episode 462, Get Tax Savvy

Reach out to Kiera: hello@thedentalateam.com 

Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast

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The dazzling Debbie Dodson is back again-- remember, she is Dr. Summer Kassmel’s right-hand woman and regional manager! Debbie breaks down the reality of holding people accountable....Continue Reading...

Listen, Kiera has been around the block with dental practices. She’s seen pretty much all there is. But one thing stood out recently in one of her offices...Continue Reading...

Kiera connects with Paul Moore in this episode, a real estate expert with an impressive background, to talk about the realities of real estate for dentists and team members alike... Continue Reading...

Kiera and Tiffanie spill the beans in this episode on a day in the life of a consultant. The two discuss what their first impressions of being a consultant were...Continue Reading...

Tiff and Dana continue with their series of efficiency hacks. In this episode, they look at digital scanners and x-rays — setting up a standard protocol to ensure quality diagnostics and after-the-fact expectations. You’ll hear the two specifically touch on:

• Incorporate scans into patient conversations

• Establish a protocol for after an x-ray is complete

• Assess whether your team likes the system you’re using

• Track case acceptance and diagnoses

Episode resources:

Reach out to Tiff and Dana

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Tiff and Dana talk about setting yourself up for success, goal edition. When you begin to work toward your dreams for your practice, do you take an all-encompassing approach? This episode focuses on creating a roadmap for those goals to make them easier to reach.

Episode resources:

Reach out to Tiff and Dana

Tune Into DAT’s Monthly Webinar

Practice Momentum Group Consulting

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Transcript:

The Dental A Team (00:01.422)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. I am here with you today with Miss Dana and we are so excited to chat with you. We've got a couple of things we're working on today and chatting future is one of them today. And I absolutely love these kinds of conversations and these planning conversations. And Dana, we were just talking about it yesterday with this content we're gonna deliver today. And I think it was just divine timing.

How are you, Dana? How is your month going? We're rounding out to the end of the year. How are things looking over there in your world? And your hair, by the way, looks amazing if you guys are watching this today. I've told you before, she's a hair genius. Here we are again with awesome hair. But Dana, how are you today?

Dana (00:44.49)

Thanks, I'm doing good. I'm blessing it like my hair takes me two minutes to do because it's so thin. So that's the only reason why it's really ever done is because it's quick.

The Dental A Team (00:50.865)

Fair and same.

-huh. I totally, I totally understand that. Awesome. Well, guess what, guys? We are here today with some incredible, incredible ideas. And I say that because we thought of them and I think we're incredible, but also because we love prepping and planning. We, we live in a reactive world in general, like just the world in general is a very reactive world and a reactive space. But dentistry itself is incredibly reactive. And I explained this to

clients and teams constantly where like our jobs are literally to find the problems that have already happened, right? So we're not always preventative for sure. We love preventative care. We love trophies and you know, paramedicine and fluoride and sealants and yes, that is a space but how often do we push that preventative like I know I'm talking to hygienists and teams constantly about fluoride and adult sealants and like gosh, you guys, these are preventative measures that help but more often than not,

we're in the reactive space where something's already happened, and we're completing treatment, we're diagnosing things that are issues. And so when we have a space of life where we can talk proactivity, I think that's a space that us as consultants at the Dental A Team, we love and we thrive on that because we want you to walk into this world prepared, we want you to feel like you have a plan and like you know where you're going. And that way when the

The little things come in, the little roadblocks, the rock in the road that somebody kicked up and it hit your windshield. When those windshield cracks happen and that rock in the road happens, it's like, okay, this is a small detour, but I know where I'm going. Whereas if we don't have that direction, we don't have that plan, those rocks in the road kicked up and hit in our windshield is like, it's the end of the world. Like, all right, here we go, another broken windshield. I don't know, I live in Phoenix, so.

The Dental A Team (02:48.874)

I've replaced my windshield many times in last three years and so it may hit home for me. It's very frustrating, but I feel like gosh, this is that space where we can really make a difference and make an impact on life and Dana, we're into Q4 now. We're rounding out the end of the year and I know you work with a lot of clients virtually and a lot of the group coaching that we do here at the Dental A Team and how are you helping?

Dana (02:48.96)

You

The Dental A Team (03:15.836)

your clients to really just finish out this year strong right now and then we'll talk about some more preparation stuff but how are you helping them to really finish out this year strong.

Dana (03:26.122)

Yeah, and I think it is similar topic as to where we're going to get to in a little bit and that is where did you want to be? Right? Like where did you want to be by the end of the year? And how can we ensure that all the parts and pieces are getting you there? So really just taking a look at where we are, where we want it to be by the end of the year, and how can we maybe reconfigure some goals, look at our gaps, look at the pieces that will essentially push us to where we want it to be the easiest, the fastest, the

most efficient.

The Dental A Team (03:57.125)

I love that. we just last month wrapped up in September, we wrapped up our webinar series, our four pillars. And Dana, you speaking to that reminds me like those were really our first two days of that free webinar series that we had, which if you guys missed it in September, don't worry, it'll be back around again next year. And we do have free webinars every month. I hope you guys know that. We talked about

those pieces, knowing where you were wanting to go, where do you want to go? What did you want to end that? And where are you currently? So really, you're talking about, you know, with your clients finding that gap, right, like finding where we wanted to end where we are, so we can see what needs to happen in the next three months, two and a half months, wherever you're at now, what needs to happen to ensure that we get to those goals, and then really tracking it. So I know day one of that, you know, webinar says was really that gap and finding it.

And day two is all about the numbers and being able to track it. And I think you're totally right as making sure that we're looking at those, but then making sure that we're tracking it along the way. Because even if today we do the numbers and we see what the gap is and we don't look at it again until the end of the year, you're likely, like in my opinion, you're more likely to still be off and not hit the goal. If you don't look at it in between, then you are to hit the goal. Even though you may have built a plan today for the next two and a half, three months.

If you're not checking it and tracking it, you're likely going to get off somewhere or not know that you took a detour. It's like, it's like driving across the country without having your Google maps on, right? Or your Apple maps and just saying, you know what, this road feels right. And not realizing like now you're at the Canadian border and you are supposed to be in New York, right? And like,

you it's a small detour, but you didn't realize you were on there until it's the end. And you're like, wait, this isn't this isn't the state that I was supposed to be in. Where am I at? So I love that. It's really, really, really brilliant. And we push all of our clients to do that. And we push all of our clients to not only look at what this year was going to be and what that gap is, but now is the time to really start prepping and planning for next year, which sounds kind of weird, I think most

The Dental A Team (06:12.517)

practices, most practice owners and business owners are used to like January, but I learned in consulting, it's really hard to build out those goals when your full team meeting or your full business planning meeting is like January 17th, you're already halfway through the month of January and now you've got a gap to make up.

Right? So I think we learned really, really early on to start those conversations in November and December, project where you're likely going to be and take it off of what Dana said now, like where were you headed? Where's your end of year headed? What was that goal? Build goals off of that. So Dana, I know you work a lot with, like I said, a lot of different clients and right now you're working on that piece of that gap, but now we're pushing.

clients as well to really look at what next year looks like. And we usually say right seven to 10 % growth, I say 10 % is freaking fantastic, right? If you can go above and beyond that, a lot of our early in their stages practices can go way above that. I've seen 25 % even just because you're you're growing right now. But that 7 % is our minimum because of inflation, you guys you have to

have to have to account for inflation. that also, that means your goals need to be bigger. That means your fees need to increase. That means all of those pieces need to change. But Dana, with that, as we're growing, one piece I don't think we always remember or always think about prepping and planning for is the amount of people that it's going to take to encompass that growth, right? So we're pushing it and a lot of spaces we say, gosh,

We need to make X amount of dollars more next year. And that means X amount of hygiene appointments or that 30 % of the production coming from hygiene could mean an entire additional day or half day a week even of hygiene that we're just looking and saying, well, we need to make this in production, but we might not be backtracking. Do you see that Dana with clients too? And as we've learned to grow and build goals.

The Dental A Team (08:31.774)

more and more and more even just in our careers, I think we see that that space too, Dana. Do you see that where it's like, gosh, push, push, push, push, push. And then it's like, wait a second, I didn't even realize to stop and think where that was going to come from.

Dana (08:44.544)

Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah, I do. And and to like, who it's going to come from, right? Because we can push, push, push that we need X amount of hygiene. But can your current hygienist take on all of that additional capacity? And so I think that when you when you build out goals, or you say, this is where I want to be by a certain point, it's really important to look at it from all of those angles and say, Okay, at what point are we going to need additional technology, additional team members, additional

The Dental A Team (08:49.632)

Mm -hmm.

The Dental A Team (08:54.314)

Yes.

Dana (09:14.518)

supplies, additional whatever that looks like to get to X, Y, and Z seamlessly.

The Dental A Team (09:20.865)

Yeah, I love that idea. So I want to talk today about a client of mine that I've worked with for a little while. They are just an amazing power couple. gosh, three years ago, I would say three years ago, we sat down and we said, Okay, what do want your life to look like in one year, three years, five years, 10 years, right? And we really broke it down and

The most common way to do this is one, three and 10, right? But I wanted that five year mark in there as well, because I think it made a difference for them. And so we really said, gosh, what do you want this to look like? And I, and I speak about them because their story, it just hits so hard for me. And it has been so incredible to watch them take the plan that we developed together, put it into action and create this incredible life for not only themselves, you guys, but

their team and to watch the team participate in this and understand it because the communication was there throughout the full team as we built this out. Their goal was always to expand. And when I first met them, it was like a one year plan. That was as far as we could consider was a one year plan. We can't look past that because we couldn't dream to believe yet. And their one year plan was to if we have to add an operatory, but the building is kind of

it's kind of wonky. So realistically, we only have space to add one more operatory and that was taking away from the patient waiting area, right? The patient lobby. So they did that. I see they, you know, that one year that they were like, we need to do this. said, then do it like, yeah, your production requires it. You're you need another hygienist. Like you've got for what we're trying to gain for even where you are today, you need that room to continue the path you're on.

So that was as far as we could see was how do we continue the path we're even currently on, let alone grow. So they did it, we did it, we got the operatory, it's beautiful, the lobby was redone, it's gorgeous, the practice looks fantastic. And then they said, but now we're in this chokehold, can't do anything more and I want to do more. I want an associate, I wanna do more surgeries, I wanna do surgery days, I only wanna work three and a half days.

The Dental A Team (11:38.462)

per week, which then turned into, that's my three year goal. My five and 10 year goal is like two to two and a half days. So we started peeling it back and we started once they were able to see the capacity for where they were at and see, gosh, that fulfilled where we are and I can sustain that, but I wanna reach the community more. And the passion behind this dentist, you guys, this practice owner is so incredible. He serves,

He serves a community that doesn't have a lot of places to go. His community and his area is a very special community and they love him. And my first visit ever with this team and my first conversations, they were like, Tiff, like we are the at -home dentist and we want to grow and expand to continue providing for more and more people. So we have to get bigger. But our biggest goal is to maintain the relationships, maintain the small town.

feel and be the at home dentist. And they said, we've got this, we can totally do this and we have, and we built these years out. So at that point, we said, okay, what does three years look like? What is five years? What does 10 years look like? And the three years was very, it was simple because it was, you know, an associate and this and the five years and the 10 years got a little bit more grandiose, but we realized we needed more space. So they started looking for buildings. But we,

built out, this is the space that we would need to encompass what you want to do to keep the production increasing in the collections, increasing to reach the community. We need X amount of chairs. Like we need this many rooms, this many hygiene. This is the space we need. So it's time to look for a building. It's time to, it's time to put our, you know, our pedal to the metal and start looking for a building. And in the meantime, let's plan and prep for what this is going to look like from a team perspective.

because what we tend to do is we say, gosh, we need an associate, let's get an associate. And we start vetting associates. And then we're like, shoot, we found somebody, they're gonna start in a month or they're gonna start in two weeks or whatever. And then you're like, shoot, we need assistance, but we don't wanna hire assistance too early. So we didn't think about the assistance and now we're in this space and we're like, gosh, wait, they're gonna need more exams. And we get in this space of frantic hiring and desperate hiring instead of hiring for need.

The Dental A Team (14:02.906)

So what we were able to do and what I want you guys to really take a look at is look at that one, three and 10 at least, but backtrack then in three years, if you're going to have an associate or an additional associate, how many team members need to be there to support that associate? So our plan was at this state, we onboard an associate. At this state, we start vetting associates. It can take time. You guys know that. So we backtracked it and said,

This is the date, this is the year I want the associate to start. We're gonna start vetting associates prior to with that start date still our goal. Just because we're vetting them doesn't mean our start date has to change. It can if you want it to for sooner or for later, but we kept that date. And then we said, as we're vetting these associates, if that's our start date, we're gonna need two more assistants for that dentist, and we're gonna need another hygiene.

for that dentist. So at least one more hygiene, two assistants and a dentist is what we're going to have to hire. So in order to get the dental assistants trained so that they're ready to go when we onboard an associate, we have to hire them X amount of weeks prior to our start date for our associate. So then a month ahead of that, we're vetting and we're interviewing for dental assistants, but we timeline it out in a way

that this practice specifically I'm speaking on and I've done this with a lot of practices, but I speak on this one specifically because it was the biggest, the biggest growth that I've timeline backwards from. And I want you guys to hear me. They found their building, they texted me and they said, Tiff, this is not the building we thought it was going to be. It is very different. It's gonna require a lot of renovation and it's massive. And I thought, okay, we can deal with massive, that's fine.

you know, a massive dental practice, you're like, okay, gosh, like, all right, 12, 16 operatories is what we had talked about. So it is a massive practice no matter what. yeah, like this is massive. And then Dana, tell me how this phone call would go for you. I pick up, I'm like, okay, let's chat. And we get on the phone and they say, we found a commercial building a couple miles down the street. So it keeps us within our neighborhood basically.

The Dental A Team (16:22.839)

It makes it very easy for our patients to come over and for us to grab actually communities that we can't reach yet due to our location. And it's, like I said, commercial and it's got a couple of suites already filled. And I'm like, okay. And it's 16 ,000 square feet. Dana, I was like, okay, 16 ,000 square feet. Like I'm not fantastic at math. I'm not fantastic at like, you asked me what a mile is. I'm like, I know.

I ran three already and I'm at like a quarter of a mile, right? Like I don't, I don't do that well, but 16 ,000 square feet. was like, massive is the right word. You're right. Exactly. 16 operatories and they're all a thousand. It's an apartment for every operatory, right? Exactly. And I was like, holy cow, you guys, this is insane. So then you can imagine that took what we had planned for.

Dana (17:00.074)

Yeah, Alpha square foot operatories, okay.

The Dental A Team (17:21.428)

Right? This is a little bit of a detour. This is a positive detour. Detours aren't always negative. Sometimes I get detoured on the road and I'm like, this is the most beautiful scenery I never knew existed in Arizona. Right? So this was the most beautiful scenery we didn't know existed. We didn't know it was possible, but we knew something was out there. So then we had to revamp. We were like, all right, we've got a small portion of this under control and we know and the practice owner

he came to me and he's like, okay, we know this much and this is fantastic because this is going to build out the dental practice that we need. we had his, we had we've accomplished the one year we've got the one associate on board, we've got we planned and prepped and the team was on board, we onboarded everybody strategically, and it worked really well. So that now they're as current associate, he will vet and help he's going to be the lead associate, like all the pieces are there, they're falling into place. And it's beautiful.

the practice administrator that he was the office manager. He's like out of the practice enough that he can build the business. The dentist is out of the business enough that he can do the dentistry he wants and still grow with the business. Like it's been incredible to watch. But now we've got 16 ,000 square feet and they're like, cool, Tiff, what are we going to do? And I'm like, yeah, we build those suites you guys. So now

Dana (18:40.556)

You're putting in there.

The Dental A Team (18:46.035)

we build a practice management company, like a property management company, right? So now they have a practice and a property management company. And I'm like, okay, now we backtrack for that. And we're to fill it with a salon and a gym. And they had all these incredible ideas. And the endodontist who's there, like, do we do we keep them? Do we not keep them? Let's, you know, we had to backtrack through all of these pieces and build it out so that in their three year, they could get into their practice. And in their 10 year,

they could probably be out of their practice 100 % if they wanted to be, which isn't where they're at right now. They don't want to be, but they want to be very minimal. And so we were able to build that out in that five and 10 year spectrum to be this massive area where their community can be served. And that's the biggest goal with this giant massive commercial building is that it's incredible spaces where the community can come together and just like do incredible things. the point there,

We reached that three year. They just got into their brand new practice three weeks ago as of recording this. It's beautiful. I got to see it almost done. I've seen it through all the stages and you guys, this build out, like I'm telling you, this renovation was massive, just still does not describe this building and the beauty of the practice. And it was a complete overhaul. It was a complete gut. Cause this was not a dental practice. This was nothing. It wasn't even a medical building.

Okay, they completely gutted a portion of this massive building and created this incredible dental practice out of it. That's that was their three year and we nailed it, we got it and they're vetting their next associates right now to reach that next stage of what that growth looks like to reach that five year, right and there and again, their tenure but I want you guys to see in that one dream to believe like freaking a they just like

They did it, they saw it, but they saw it because we could clarify the missing pieces. We simplified what it would look like to get to that stage, because I think we hold ourselves back. And Dana, tell me if you agree with this. I know I hold myself back with this. I hold myself back because I can't see the path clearly. And so I know I want to get somewhere. know I want to accomplish a goal, but the path is so murky. It's like being okay, jumping into a swamp.

The Dental A Team (21:13.312)

And like your goal is to swim across it, but you're like, I'm not dipping my toe in that, that alligator filled swamp. And so when our goals are, are there and we're like, I don't, I can't clearly see the path. We hold ourselves back from doing it. And so what we were able to do, I was able to come in and help clear up the dirt in the water and sift through it so that it became.

clear water that they could see to the bottom and be like, yes, that's safe. I can accomplish those pieces and I can jump into it. And Dana, I know you've been with me for a lot of their journey and you know who I'm talking about and I'm sure they know who I'm talking about. But how, from your perspective, and we'll make it quick because this is getting long, I told you I was long winded, but

From your perspective of being able to watch that side too, and I know you do this with your clients too, but just theirs in general, what are some thoughts and things that you have for some of the listeners on how this has worked for them and how they might be, the listeners might be able to see themselves in it.

Dana (22:21.076)

Yeah, I think honestly the biggest thing right or how it became is because there was a plan there was a road map I love that you said we set dates and we stuck to them and at least you stuck with the start dates, right? You can shift and change those things But you always knew what the next piece was so you could plan and prep for that next piece You knew when their time frame was plan and prep to that time frame you knew all the things that you had to add and it was like

going on a road trip, right with a very clear map. And I feel like that's how it ended up being so successful. And that's how they always found the right pieces at the right time, because there were dates associated with it, there were timeframes allotted for everything. And I'm sure for them, while it was a huge undertaking and a big journey, right, which comes with its own stress, but minimize stressed in this way, because everything was planned, they knew when to start for things they knew

when to make decisions by, they knew when and what they were doing each step of the way. And so it's really been cool to see from the outside too, because it was such a massive growth and development, but it was, I think, as easy as it possibly could be because there was a very clear plan.

The Dental A Team (23:42.593)

Yeah, I agree. I love that. Thank you. I was interested in entering to hear your perspective because I think being in it is different. That's the perspective I was able to give to them is not being in it and tied as closely as they are. So I had that third party view, but then I become in it. So then it's fun to see your perspective as well. And I think you nailed it. It's having a plan you guys so my

Hope streams wishes aspirations for you and Dana's hope streams wishes and aspirations for you is that you have some sort of a picture of where you want your business to go and that you have someone in your life, whether it's us, whether it's a friend, a spouse, a different coach, like whoever it is, somebody who can give a non emotionally biased opinion and help clear that mud and that muck and the murkiness of it to clarify.

the journey and the path that it's going to take to get to your dream because I know for me, I have all kinds of dreams and it takes my coach. have a gal that I talk to every now and again and she's there when I need her and I talked with her last week and I said, I feel it, I see it, I can envision it, but I'm scared because I don't know the step. I don't even know how to take a first step and she said, great, that's what I'm here for and she gave me journal prompts and

She gave me these pieces that's like, this is how you're going to put it together so that you can see it because she is not emotionally attached to what I'm trying to accomplish. And that's what I think we provide for each other and for our clients of all spectrums, virtual one -on -one, the few and far between one -on -one, right? And our group coaching too, because now our group coaching clients also have, and so do our other virtual clients, they have each other too.

but this group coaching aspect for a lot of our newer doctors is the, that's the world that they're landing in and they have each other to lean on as well as the consultants in our company. And I just think it's really cool when you have that. So I hope you guys have that and I want you to go re -listen to this if you need to, but I want you to go look at your dream and like Dana said at the beginning, what is that dream? What is that goal? What's the gap? How are you going to get there for this year?

The Dental A Team (25:59.196)

and start prepping and planning what is next year look like? What do you want that to look like and really dive into working backwards on the amount of people, the people power that it is going to take to get you there. Prep and plan for that added into your overhead pretend like it's already there build a bucket that says my overhead if I have to hire these pieces, my overhead is going to look like this and I need to prep and plan for that. Build a prep and plan bucket you guys especially if you're hiring an associate.

start paying a bucket like you're already paying an associate so that you're ready for it. Dana, thank you so much. It's one of my favorite stories to tell. I hope everyone enjoyed it. I think they will forever be one of my favorite stories to tell and just the most amazing human beings as well. So Dana, thank you for being here with me today. I appreciate you. And guys, if you loved it, tell us. If you hated it, don't re -listen.

But if you loved it, leave us a five star review. You guys, love hearing from you. We want to know that you enjoyed it. I love, love, love these kinds of conversations, but I want to make sure you do as well. And if you need help with anything at all, you guys, there's links and all kinds of stuff for our websites, but bottom line, Hello@TheDentalATeam.com, easy way to reach us. We are all here for you and we will catch you next time.

Kiera is answering a listener's question! The question: How do I double-check my CPA?

The answer … is in this episode! Kiera talks about why as a business owner, you need to have a basic understanding of taxes and finances — enough to know when red flags pop up.

She shares how she navigates the finances of her business (alongside a team of tax experts), how she is able to stay aware, and why it’s so important to at least be aware of what’s going on.

Want to ask your own question and have it answered on the podcast? Email hello@TheDentalATeam.com! 

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