Taking The Long View

I am beginning my 17^th year of providing management consulting to the dental profession, and during that period of time, I have worked closely with over 580 different dental offices. One immutable fact remains constant – it takes a lot of hard work and requires a lot of talent to run a successful and profitable dental practice. According to The American Dental Association, 75% of all dentists in America are sole proprietors. Thus they are responsible not only for providing clinical care – what they were trained for – but also for managing a significant business entity – with NO formal training.

Maybe this is why I am definitely seeing an increase in stressed out dentists. I am seeing dentists – twenty years into their careers – late 40’s, early 50’s – experiencing burn out. And if you looked at the take home pay of these dentists, you might be envious. But they are overwhelmed with staying ahead of the game and keeping up with the demands of family life and a professional career. One of my clients with four kids recently shared with me that he has been having recurring fantasies of being on a deserted island – by himself – for a month!

As dentists, we get good at solving day to day problems and putting out fires, but unfortunately many of the solutions are of the band-aid variety. There is no luxury of working “on” the practice when you are so intently working “in” the practice. These observations have prompted me to offer some ideas that might be helpful if you are experiencing some of the feelings I describe.

1. Better time management – As dentists we are overly consumed with being productive clinically every hour of every day. Try blocking out an entire afternoon once a month – not to go to the beach – but to have dedicated time for thinking and strategizing. You might want to include key staff members. You will be amazed at how beneficial this time will be.

2. Find a mentor – Identify a few dentists in your area that from your perception are eminently successful.  Ask them if they would be willing to share their secrets for success. Successful people – in my experience – are flattered when asked – and are often quite generous with their responses and their time.

3. Evaluate your current professional advisors – For example, how many other dentists does your current accountant advise? Ask around – who are the super stars? It is probably worth paying for that kind of comparative analysis and expertise.

4. Continuous team building – I have written repeatedly on the importance and advantages of assembling a great team. Sports franchises do this all the time.  Obviously, there are no draft days in dentistry!  But I would encourage you to take a really hard look at any weaknesses in your current staff – and then commit to improvement.

5. Continuing education – Probably the best way to combat burnout is by increasing your knowledge and perhaps learning different procedures. Same old/same old gets boring. I see a lot of general dentists adding services like short term orthodontics and basic implantology.

6. Marketing – Most dentists learn next to nothing about marketing while in school. Instead, their education in this area comes from trial and error – and that strategy often turns out poorly. It is imperative to find someone very experienced to guide you because the choices and options are mindboggling and confusing. I am recommending a marketing budget in the range of 3-4% of annual collections.

It is human nature that business decisions are driven by concerns about money. It is of course necessary to be prudent on expenditures, but lately I am feeling that in order to be successful, you can’t afford NOT to spend the money. I encourage you to at least take the time to consider some of these longer term strategies that in the end may be a great return on investment.