Patients will respect your time in direct proportion to the way that you respect theirs. So staying on time each and every day is a must. And while staying on time requires a team effort from all staff members, the doctor bears the ultimate responsibility.

The biggest contributing factor I see to messing up a perfectly scheduled day is when the doctor decides to perform definitive therapy for  an emergency patient. The doctor must resist that temptation. Treat emergencies as emergencies by offering treatment to relieve pain. Placement of a temporary filling, writing a prescription, making a referral to a specialist, taking a tooth out of hyper-occlusion – whatever it takes. That is your responsibility when an emergency patient is squeezed into your busy day. The mission is to spend no more than ten minutes getting someone comfortable, and then getting them re-scheduled for the proper amount of time on another day for definitive treatment.

Once you have kept someone waiting more than ten to fifteen minutes in your reception area or even worse in a treatment room with a saliva ejector hanging out of their mouth, they begin counting up your faults. Don’t give them that opportunity. Don’t be greedy. Take perfect care of your scheduled patients. That is how you stay on time.

Effective communication is the key to success. Communication between doctor and staff and between staff and staff. Morning huddles are the perfect opportunity and the perfect venue for communicating. In my opinion, practices with consistent well-run morning huddles are easily 15% more effective and successful than those offices that don’t use them.

The huddle is twelve to thirteen minutes in duration. I suggest that the doctor does not lead the huddle, but attends and actively participates. Actually in the ideal world, the doctor arrives to the office first and hands out coffee to the staff as they arrive! The huddle is led by staff members on a rotating basis. Topics to be covered include:

• When are the three best times to see an emergency that day based on the doctor’s schedule. If this is decided at the huddle, then there is no need to bother the clinical team after the day has started.

• Which hygiene patients are scheduled for a doctor exam, and at what time during that continuing care visit will the exam get done. Again, this is based on the complexity of the doctor’s schedule. I recommend that continuing care patients be seen by the doctor every other time. Of course if a diagnosis needs to be made, the doctor will see that patient.

• Who are the new patients — who referred them – and are there any special considerations for these new patients based on the telephone intake slip.

• Fine tune the doctors schedule for ultimate patient flow. This attention to detail can add hundreds of dollars of production every day.

• Discuss whether any patient on the schedule today with a lengthy appointment and a history of lateness or forgetfulness needs a second reminder call.

• Be aware of financial arrangements/collections/co-pay responsibilities.

The last thing I suggest is that the person who is in charge of leading the huddle is also responsible — just before the meeting ends — to tell a joke. This gets everyone smiling as they head out to do battle for the day. There are lots of jokes online — and sometimes it is more hilarious observing someone struggling to tell the joke than the actual joke itself. As always I appreciate your feedback with what works for you.

I guess I am on a new kick. In my last post, I shared my enthusiasm for voice recognition software — Dragon Naturally Speaking — based on how much time it saves me every week on administrative tasks like reports, memos, and e-mail communications. Dragon can be installed on Macs or PCs. In this difficult economy, dental practices have to create ways to increase their productivity through efficiency. Simply stated, we need to collect more dollars with the same staffing infra-structure because hiring more people is not an option. Let me share two ideas that I am excited about.

Isolite systems is a high speed suction/isolation/high visibility system that allows the doctor to prepare teeth unassisted. I recently had a Cerec restoration done in this fashion, and I could not believe that my former partner — who used to be as hopelessly dependent as I was on a dental assistant — could do the prep all by himself. And I was amazed at how comfortable this dental experience was for me. The dental assistant was in another treatment room busily taking off temps and getting some other patient ready for a crown and bridge try in. This is efficiency!

Demand Force is a Silicon Valley company that was originally introduced to dentistry for the purpose of automated appointment confirmation sent to an e-mail address or a text message to a cell phone. Obviously this is a big time saver for the front desk and frees them up for other administrative duties. But I am really excited about another feature with this cool technology. Demand Force can automatically generate a brief customer satisfaction survey that can be  sent after a patient appointment. It is easy and intuitive for that patient to write a positive review about their dental experience. These reviews are referenced by Google, and in just a few months your practice is at the top of the local Google business map.

New technologies can be a big help and they are fun– so do not overlook the opportunity and challenge to improve and redefine every single management and clinical system in your practice.

Even though the harder I work the luckier I seem to get, one of my favorite guiding principles for success continues to be “work smarter – not harder.” I recently discovered a life transforming technology that is making my work routine infinitely easier. It is voice recognition software from a company called Dragon Naturally Speaking. This product allows me to speak into a headset attached to my computer, and whatever I say is written into an email or a Word document with 99% accuracy. The cost is about $165 on amazon.com.

After every client meeting, I send a detailed follow up memo by email that would normally take at least 30 minutes to type on my computer. I have been doing this for years – and I can type pretty quickly – but SO many typos to correct. Now with Dragon, I can create the same document in half the time because I can speak much more quickly that I can type, and there are NO typos because spell check is built into the software.

I suggest that in your dental practice there are many daily situations where Dragon could be utilized with significant savings of time and effort. In the paperless practice – and you know this is going to be mandated in the next few years – you can enter chart notes in as much detail as you like. This will eliminate reliance on templates and give you more flexibility. Treatment plans can also be dictated into your computer. For specialists who need to send lots of correspondence to their referring doctors, this is a natural.

Much to my surprise, I have discovered that many dentists have never learned more than rudimentary typing – and for them to send a detailed email is a daunting task given the amount of time it takes to sit down and struggle with a keyboard. With this software, communication rises to a new level. It is truly liberating!

So check this out – and by the way, if you have an I Phone, you can down load it as a free app.

As a result of the downturn in the economy, there has never been a better time in recent memory to hire. The labor pool is flooded with plenty of talented and experienced job seekers.

I recently was speaking with one of my kids about his memories of having a tropical fish tank when he was a kid growing up. Adding new fish wasn’t always easy. Some fish are stronger than others, some are more low-key, others are bright and colorful. The trick is to keep all of the fish happy in the tank, balancing the pH levels to make sure the water doesn’t become too acidic or too alkaline – otherwise a fish could die.  Andy remembered that we would go to the pet store and buy a kind of pH balancer that you would add to the water to avoid this problem.

Managing a tropical fish tank and handling a changing and growing office staff are similar. As we add new “fish” to our tank, there is the likelihood that the pH levels in the office will change. Unfortunately, we can’t just add a few drops of a chemical solution to maintain neutrality.

Assembling and maintaining a caring, talented, customer service oriented staff is the biggest challenge in dentistry, because you simply can’t have a great practice without an amazing staff. So take advantage of this unusual hiring opportunity to find some great employees. Be patient – be selective – resist the temptation to hire the “first warm body”. With the labor supply finally working in your favor, chances are excellent for a happy fish tank.

Social media marketing is the new word of mouth advertising. Time spent on social media sites is growing three times faster than the overall Internet rate. Social media will gain you name recognition in your community and help you convey your image.

It is vitally important to have a clear idea of your “brand” so that patients can refer to you. Are you trying to appeal to Walmart or Nordstroms? Branding in essence will make your entire marketing program easier. Utilizing popular social media sites like Facebook and Linkedin to promote your “brand” is easy, effective and FREE.

We all recognize the need these days to attract more new patients. Just imagine if every patient in your practice suddenly referred even one friend, family member or co-worker. You couldn’t begin to handle the overflow. Nice fantasy! I am not suggesting this will happen overnight with social media. But I am starting to see that social media marketing is powerful and impressive.

Here is how it works. You join the social media site and begin to send out  relevant, new, exciting pieces of professional information or advice to your patient base. You are now offering Botox – or invisible braces – or sedation. Your patient base, through their presence on Facebook or Twitter, can easily share this information with a large group of their friends who they communicate with and interact with on these sites. Hence the name “social media”. Their friends are often people in your neighborhood you don’t know – and they don’t know you. They may not have a dentist, or maybe they don’t like their current dental office. Is this starting to make sense?

The dissemination of this information becomes viral – sort of like email on steroids. I encourage you to leave your comfort zone and jump in and get started. I am happy to help.

Hope springs eternal at this time of year when we resolve to improve our lives and our dental practices. But if you continue to do what you have always done, you will unfortunately continue to get what you have always got. How frustrating.

Change is difficult. Change is scary. Change is uncertain and often unpredictable. It is so much more comfortable to use the same tired ideas and strategies and continue to stay within the narrow confines of your comfort zone. Yet expecting to get different and better results with that approach is the classic definition of insanity.

I want to share with you some recent comments from Seth Godin. a true visionary and someone I respect and admire. The title of his remarks was Fear of Bad Ideas.

“A few people are afraid of good ideas, ideas that make a difference or contribute in some way. Good ideas bring change, that’s frightening. But many people are petrified of bad ideas – ideas that make us look stupid or waste time or money or create some sort of backlash. The problem is that you can’t have good ideas unless you are willing to generate a lot of bad ones.”

Working harder is fine. Working smarter is better. Get your staff involved in a major way. Solicit their ideas in an anything-goes super think tank meeting. Push the envelope. Consider topics like modifying office hours, special promotions (always with an expiration date), spa services, innovative patient referral rewards, new clinical services like Sedation or Botox, better ways to communicate with your patient base – there is no limit if you can get those creative juices flowing.

I always like to say that if you throw enough spaghetti sauce against the wall, some of it will stick. It is the same way with ideas. Sure – some of the ideas will fail. But if you are willing to take some risk, you will succeed far more often than people who have no ideas at all.

A few nights ago, my wife and I went out for dinner to one of our favorite restaurants. As usual, the food was excellent and our server was exceptional. Later that evening we received an email survey from the restaurant asking for our feedback on the dining experience.

Two weeks before that, I purchased a new sport jacket – again from a nice store where I frequently shop. The jacket had to be tailored, so they offered to send it to me since the store is located about a half hour from my home. Well instead of mailing it, the salesperson who waited on me – knowing that we lived in the same neighborhood – actually delivered the jacket to my home. And the next day, I received a call from the store checking to be sure that the jacket fit well.

I sense a pattern here. It seems like even the best of the best are making a major effort to let their customers know how much they care about them. In these difficult economic times, it is a great strategy since people are more careful than ever with discretionary purchases.

The New Year is upon us – the time for those resolutions we swear to uphold. Unfortunately, statistics show that within two weeks time, the best of intentions have gone by the board. I challenge you as a small business owner to make good on what should be your number one resolution as we begin 2010. Motivate and inspire your team to continue to be not only the best of the best – but to improve even on that level of performance. “How can each of us – in our individual jobs – improve the services we render to our patients?”

Continue to strive to differentiate your practice from your competition by delivering exquisite, consistent, amazing customer service. It will be noticed – and it will make a difference!

If your office telephone system is over five years old, it likely only allows for one recorded message. That typically would be the “end of the day message” that is put on after business hours. I can’t tell you how many times when I call an office during what you would expect to be normal business hours – say 11 AM on Tuesday – that I get to listen to the end of the day message. “Thanks for calling Quality Dental Care. Our office hours are 8 to 5 Monday through Thursday. If this is an emergency please call…etc.” So what’s that about? I AM calling during your business hours – why doesn’t someone answer the phone? Because- without the ability to change a message easily – someone at the front desk who might be by herself – perhaps in an important discussion with a patient than can’t be interrupted – as a “life raft” puts the message machine on.

I recommend that every dental practice needs to easily be able to access three different recorded messages. The “end of the day” message is obviously for after normal business hours. During business hours – when you might be short staffed at the front – you need to use what is called an “inter day” message. “Thanks for calling Quality Dental Care. We are in the office but currently assisting another patient. Your call is very important to us. Please leave your telephone number and we promise to return your call within thirty minutes.”

A third message is for specific situations when your office is closed during normal business hours. A perfect example would be for a day when the team is attending continuing education. You might say something like “Thanks for calling Quality Dental Care. The office is closed today Monday December 21st  because we are all at a great continuing education course learning advanced techniques on smile design. Please leave us a message and we will return your call first thing tomorrow morning.” This third message option is easily recorded to fit individual situations – and of course it is so much more informative and relevant then that end of the day message.

Most dentists don’t shrink from the high cost of purchasing clinical technology from lasers to digital radiography. So why not get into the twenty-first century with your telephone system. It is just another way to upgrade to exquisite customer service that will separate you from your competition.

One of my pet peeves is being placed on hold with no way of knowing if I am still connected. After thirty seconds of silence, you are lonely and aggravated. In my opinion, not having “music on hold” shows an utter lack of awareness of basic customer service. Yet I continue to be surprised at how often I encounter this situation.

It is not difficult or expensive to have a CD player connected to your telephone. This music does not play throughout the entire office – just when you place someone on hold. The music can be a reflection of the personality of the practice – perhaps jazz or classical – probably instrumental rather than vocal- but certainly understated and dignified.

What is more expensive is an on – hold  program that combines music PLUS information about your practice. There are many companies in the dental industry that can offer customized scripts. I personally don’t like listening to a list of all the services provided by the practice and where the doctor went to dental school- especially if I am an existing patient and know all that stuff anyway.  Just give me some nice music so I know my call hasn’t been dropped. I almost feel with those information programs that someone could actually pick up the phone but won’t until after I have been forced to listen to the whole menu!

If your phone system is really old, it might not have the capability to be hooked up to a CD player. In that case, you really need to make an investment in front desk technology and purchase a new updated system. Because if it won’t allow music on hold, then for sure it probably won’t allow you an easy way to play more than one recorded message. Next time on this blog, I will discuss the necessity and advantages of using multiple phone messages.